In the early morning of the second day, when the time had come when hundreds of civil and military officials gathered in Fengtian Hall to participate in the early dynasty, there were still more than 20 vacant positions in the ranks of civil officials on the left, and Zhu Yuanzhang, who was sitting on the dragon chair, couldn't help but sink his face.

After the red tape of kneeling and knocking three times and nine knocks, Jiang Xian, the commander of the Jinyi Guard wearing the official uniform of the flying fish, stepped out of the ranks, bowed down and said: "Your Majesty, Weichen learned earlier that there are many people in Yingtiancheng who have stopped the official sedan chair to complain, but I am afraid that these adults will be blocked by the scholars who shout injustice, and delay the early dynasty." It turned out that the day before yesterday was just a complaint against Shandong Juzi, and the northern lifter who went to the Ministry of Rites to complain last night had been arrested and imprisoned by Jinyiwei overnight, but when it was not yet dawn today, not only did the northern examiners stop the sedan chair one by one, but even those southern lifters who fell into the first place were also looking at the wind, and complaining everywhere about the situation, so that he, the commander of the Jinyiwei, was also quite troublesome.

Zhu Quan was pregnant with Xu Ying for several months, and yesterday he was about to say goodbye to Zhu Yuanzhang and return to Daning, but after hearing that Ma Sanbao told the northern juzi to go to the Ministry of Rites to complain about the main examination and the fraud of the officials of the Ministry of Rites, there was a stir in Yingtian City, and after thinking about it again, he immediately put down his mind to return to Yingtian. At this time, when he heard Jiang Xian's words, he couldn't help but turn his head to look at him twice, recalling that when he rode his horse through the street outside Hongwu Gate, he did see a person dressed as a scholar seeing the arrival of the civil official sedan chair, and immediately knelt on the ground to complain about grievances.

At this time, he saw a group of more than 20 civil officials rushing into the Fengtian Palace, kneeling on the ground in order of official rank, and begging Zhu Yuanzhang to surrender for the matter of being late in the early dynasty. Among the more than 20 people, there were more than a dozen officials of the imperial history platform, and it turned out that these wronged scientific examiners were quite clear about the rank of the Chinese officials of the dynasty, and knew that the Qingliu imperial history above the temple was the most straightforward and outspoken, and did not hesitate to anger Long Yan, so they inquired about the residences of the imperial history masters in the court early in the morning, and as soon as they left the mansion, they immediately stepped forward to block the officials, so that the civil officials whose official positions higher than the imperial history such as the six Shangshu and the waiter Lang were delayed from going to the dynasty.

Zhu Yuanzhang, the Hongwu Emperor, secretly ordered Jinyi Wei to detain those scholars who went to the Ministry of Rites to complain last night, originally to prevent the further spread of rumors, but this morning the court saw that more than 20 officials in the court were actually blocked by the scholars who complained about grievances, and it was obvious that the rumors of this scientific examination fraud were spreading far faster than expected.

Many of the civil and military officials heard that the current Kegong scholars are all southern scholars, and when they were thinking about it, they saw that among the officials who had just arrived belated, there was a civil official who was more than forty years old and had thin eyebrows and fine eyes. ”

Zhu Yuanzhang shook his head when he heard this: "What is the matter with Aiqing?" ”

"Fifty-one people who passed the Gongshi literary examination taken by the Ministry of Science and Rites today are all scholars from the south, and none of them will pass the examination from the northern provinces. Speaking of this, I couldn't help but look at the examiner of the current department who was standing not far away, Liu Sanwu, a bachelor of Hanlin Academy. He has always respected Liu Sanwu's knowledge on weekdays, but in the face of this matter, he couldn't help but be suspicious of the officials of the Ministry of Rites.

A group of imperial historians who were blocked by the northern people from filing a complaint also felt that it was too unbelievable that the current Kegongshi were all southerners, and they were busy listing and seconding the proposal one after another.

"The name of the test paper is confused, how does the examiner know who wrote the essay? Not to mention that the origin is from the south and the north. Zhang Shi read this, it was too arbitrary. Huang Zicheng, the attendant of the East Palace, stepped out of the column and reprimanded.

A thirty-year-old Yu Shi who was born quite rough and arrogant immediately came out of the ranks, and played in a Henan accent: "Weichen Yang Dao thinks that although the examination papers are vague, the style of writing in the north and south is quite different, and there may not be no trace between the lines. There have been a lot of officials in the Ministry of Etiquette in the article examination papers, and there is absolutely no fraud and favoritism in it? ”

Huang Zicheng snorted coldly and said: "Lord Yang's immortal hometown is Henan, and his heart is naturally raised to the north. ”

Yang Dao flicked his sleeves and said angrily when he heard this: "The people who will take the test are all southerners, and they have not been heard of in previous dynasties. ”

Zhuo Jing heard Huang Zicheng's words in the matter, and couldn't help frowning, although he was the same as Huang Zicheng, but in his heart he couldn't help but secretly blame his words for being careless, and secretly thought to himself: Yang Dao's words are really chasing after the wind and shadows, but Lord Huang said that people are born like this, isn't it chaos and chaos, adding fuel to the fire, and it is bound to become a dispute between the north and the south?

As Zhuo Jing expected, several officials from the northern region heard Huang Zicheng's words, and the officials who did not doubt the fairness of the current examination could not bear it, and they came out one after another, and played with great emotion, suspecting that the examination of this branch may not be due to the acceptance of bribes by the chief examiner Liu Sanwu, the deputy chief examiner Ji Shan, and Bai Xin, but by their discrimination against the northern judges.

"That's enough." Zhu Yuanzhang saw the noise above the temple, and scolded with a calm face.

After a group of Wenchen closed their mouths unsatisfied, Zhu Yuanzhang turned his head to look at Liu Sanwu, who was sitting on the embroidery pier not far from his left hand, and said, "I don't know what the examiner of today's examination says?" "It turns out that although Liu Sanwu is a bachelor of the Hanlin Academy, he can be said to be the leader of the Great Ming Shilin, but because he is really old, he lives at home on weekdays to care for the elderly, and this time he was appointed by Zhu Yuanzhang as the main exam.

Liu Sanwu, who is full of white hair, is seventy-eight years old this year, after the turbulent times at the end of the Yuan Dynasty, living to this age, it can be said that he has long been honored and disgraced, looking down on life and death, and questioning several northern officials as if he had not heard of it. ”

Zhu Quan stepped out and said: "Erchen thinks that although this matter seems unbelievable, it is reasonable. ”

Zhu Yuanzhang frowned and asked, "How is it reasonable?" ”

"At present, the population of my Ming Dynasty is more in the south and less in the north, and the sons and ministers have many roads to become vassals, and I have seen many places in the southern provinces with few land and many people, while many prefectures and counties in the northern provinces are vast and sparsely populated. The number of students taking the examination must be far less than that of the south, and in terms of cultural climate, the northern provinces are far from being able to compare with the south. Zhu Quan said eloquently. He knows very well that the Ming Dynasty can be described as the founding heroes of those civil ministers, such as Li Shanchang, Zhu Sheng, Liu Bowen, Song Lian and Feng Guoyong, the brother of Feng Sheng, the Duke of Song Guogong, and others are all southern scholars.

Yushi Yang Dao was displeased when he heard this: "Weichen also has any high opinion about His Royal Highness King Daoning, but it turns out that he also discriminates against the northern son like this. ”

Zhu Quan was not annoyed when he heard this, and said with a smile: "The land of the Central Plains is the birthplace of Han culture, how dare this king underestimate the literati in the north." Han, Sui, and Tang are all fixed capitals of Chang'an, and there are countless scribes in the north who are shaking ancient and modern. Speaking of this, he paused slightly, glanced at a group of ministers and said in a deep voice: "Before Zhenzong of the Northern Song Dynasty, all the prime ministers were northerners, but in the second year of Jingkang (1127), the Jin soldiers went south to capture Bianjing, and took away the two sects to the north, which was known as the "disaster of Jingkang" in history. Many of the literati in the north were unwilling to fall into the hands of Yidi Hulu and went south one after another. From this time on, our Han culture has been strong in the south and weak in the north. Therefore, in the eyes of this king, the people selected for this examination are all southern scholars, and there is no fraud or favoritism. In the final analysis, it was the invasion of the Central Plains by the Jin and Yuan races, which caused a huge trauma to the Han culture and caused a serious cultural imbalance between the population and the north and the south. ”

"According to the fifty-one people who passed the examination in this department, they are all southerners, this is an indistinguishable fact, even if Your Highness is a lotus flower, he can't convince us." Yang Dao said with a sneer, bowed down to Zhu Yuanzhang in the distance, and said respectfully: "As far as Weichen knows, there are more people in the northern provinces who came to the Tianhui to take the test than in the past, and the results of this examination may not be able to convince the scholars of the world." ”

After all, Zhu Quan has been commanding the army for a long time, and he is young and vigorous, so he couldn't help but say angrily after giving the other party two sentences: "Even if there are more people in the north than in the past, if compared with the scholars in the south, I am afraid that it is less than one-tenth. ”

Seeing that the civil officials above the temple were clamoring endlessly, Zhu Yuanzhang quietly shouted in a deep voice: "The results of the examination of this department are really difficult to satisfy me, Liu Sanwu, the bachelor of the Hanlin Academy, the deputy chief examiner, Ji Shan, Bai Xin and the officials of the Ministry of Rites who should read the papers, are temporarily detained in Jinyi Wei Zhaojiao. Another official will be selected to review the case file for re-examination to see the difference. Speaking of which, twelve civil officials, including Liandian Hanlin Academy and Yushitai, went to the Ministry of Rites to re-read the papers, but the person at the head was above the court, and first questioned the imperial study of the scientific expedition to read Zhang Xin.

The imperial study attendant has the responsibility of relieving doubts and doubts when reading to the emperor, and non-learned people can not take it, Zhang Xinzhi's talent is quite prestigious among the civil officials in the court, and Yang Dao of the imperial history saw that there were two northern officials in the imperial history platform among the officials who were ordered to re-read the papers, so he was not very concerned about himself, and was silent.

Zhu Yuanzhang slowly stood up and pointed at Zhang Xin and said in a deep voice: "I Wanger and others read the papers impartially, and they must not show favoritism, and with the heart of a scholar in the north, I know that my Ming imperial examination will never discriminate against the heart of the northern scholars." If you fail to live up to God's grace, you will not be spared. ”

Although Liu Sanwu, a bachelor of Hanlin, is old, but his heart is like a mirror, hearing the words of Emperor Hongwu, he can't help but sigh slightly, and can't help but turn his head, and look at Ji Shan and Bai Xin, who are not far from him, with a pair of old eyes that seem to be open, and sigh slightly in his heart: The old man is about to die, it is not a pity, but it is a pity that the two of them also have to accompany the old man to bury his life and his name. Thinking so in his heart, his mouth was silent, he stood up tremblingly, and walked away with the support of the brocade guard in front of the hall with a cane.

Zhu Quan heard Zhu Yuanzhang's order, his heart couldn't help but be shocked, and the recall in his mind was that when he accompanied the North Korean envoy Li Chengyuan to Guozijian to watch the scientific examination a few days ago, he witnessed those sideburns dyed with frost and came all the way to catch the exam, and he couldn't help but sigh secretly in his heart: "This matter is related to the fate of the lives of the fallen sons, and it can be said that it is closely related. The officials of the northern provinces who entered the imperial examination deeply felt that the temple was lonely, and they were afraid that they were also full of hope to take advantage of this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity of the fraud case to strive for more opportunities for their fellow villagers to enter the ranks. Whether this matter is in the government or in the opposition, it is a dispute between the north and the south, and unless a few northern scholars are re-examined and selected to be tributary, I am afraid that they will not be able to give up.

In the afternoon, in the imperial study, Zhu Yuanzhang took the hot tea offered by the little eunuch, slowly placed it on the table after taking two sips, and secretly thought to himself: Zhang Xin is a person who knows the inside, and he should know the deep meaning of me.

At this moment, the rather sharp voice of Xue Jing, the head of the imperial study, sounded at the door, and the report was that Zhu Biao, the prince of the East Palace, asked to see him.

Seeing Zhu Biao walking into the room with a sick face, Zhu Yuanzhang frowned involuntarily, and said lightly: "You are not feeling well, you are not recuperating in the East Palace, but what are you doing here?" Although he is quite concerned about Zhu Biao's illness in his heart, just because he has been in the habit of speaking lightly to anyone for a long time, he is not immune to the current prince of the Ming Dynasty and his eldest son.

It turned out that Zhu Biao was unwell two days ago, and had been recuperating in the East Palace, and did not participate in the early dynasty.

"Qi played the father, and the sons thought that Liu Sanwu was the leader of Shilin under my great vision, knowledgeable and famous. The so-called acceptance of bribes and favoring southern scholars is purely false and false. Speaking of this, he couldn't help coughing again and again, his face showed a slight flush, and he reluctantly continued: "It seems inappropriate to go to prison so lightly. Although Zhu Biao was under his father's prestige, he rarely opposed Zhu Yuanzhang's decision on weekdays, but when he thought that the scientific expedition involved the Daming Jiangshan Sheji, he hesitated again and again, and still had the courage to say something inappropriate.

Zhu Yuanzhang heard that this son was so directly opposed to his will, he couldn't help but sigh slightly, and immediately said angrily: "Whether the scientific examination is fair or not is related to the fortune of the Ming Dynasty, if I don't use thunderous means, how can I convince the civil and military officials?" ”