"The Imperial City Division is ordered to run an errand, and no one else is out of the way!"

In the middle of the night in Bianjing City, there was a rapid sound of horses' hooves on Nanxunmen Street, and a team of knights in strong clothes suddenly appeared in everyone's sight.

In the cold moonlight, the cold light reflected from the blades on the waists of this team of men and horses could be faintly seen.

The curfew in Bianjing is extremely short, almost none, and although it is not a festival in Shangyuan, the streets are still bustling and lively.

Seeing a team of knights rushing violently, all the pedestrians on the street hurriedly avoided the road, and for a time made the chickens and dogs jump on Nanxunmen Street.

When the official on duty at the street saw the token in the hand of the first person, he couldn't help but feel a pang in his heart, and hurriedly ordered the people to move the fence blocking the road.

Then, in a daze, he watched as the knights rode past him.

"Head, in the middle of the night, what is the Imperial City Division ordered to do?"

"If you don't want to die, don't talk too much!"

The team leader glared at his subordinates fiercely, and then commanded the rest of the people to clean up the truth thoroughly, and those masters had to come back again.

In the Qin Dynasty, there was a "Black Ice Terrace", when Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty had "embroidered clothes", Cao Cao of the Three Kingdoms set up a "school affair", and in the Tang Dynasty, there was also a "Lijing Gate".

These were all supervisory agencies that were directly under the orders of the emperor, and their roles were not much different from those of the well-known secret service "Jinyiwei".

In addition to being responsible for the security of the imperial city, the most important duty is to spy on all kinds of intelligence and supervise civil and military officials.

In the Great Zhou, although the Imperial City Division was not as powerful as Jinyiwei, it was enough to make most people afraid of it, and a small official team leader naturally did not dare to touch the moldy heads of these people.

It didn't take long for the Great Zhou Gongyuan in the south of Bianjing City to usher in a group of uninvited guests, who were the Imperial City Division dozens of horsemen who rode horses from Nanxunmen Street.

After Gu Wan, the head of the capital, showed an edict, the Gongyuan that closed the door and locked the key slowly opened the door.

"Stay at the door, don't let a fly out without my orders."

Gu Wan instructed his subordinates to guard the gate, and accompanied by several imperial city guards, he entered the Great Zhou Gongyuan and went straight to the public hall.

When he arrived at the Zhigong Hall, he saw the examiners waiting at the door, Gu Wan was not verbose, and said loudly: "Where is Yang Yuanzhen, the left concubine?" ”

I asked three times in a row, only to hear a weak answer: "This official is here......"

Yang Yuanzhen, who had finally woken up, opened his eyes, and finally sat up with the support of his subordinate scribes with all his strength, looking at Gu Wan and the others at the door, looking confused.

Seeing this, Gu Wan couldn't help frowning slightly, and said loudly: "Your Majesty's dictation, summon Yang Yuanzhen to enter the palace immediately!" Lord Yang, please. ”

Yang Yuanzhen was shocked when he heard this, and looked at the deputy examiner and the fellow examiners on the side with wide eyes.

The deputy chief examiner reluctantly explained: "President, the matter is serious, and the subordinate has to send someone to report to His Majesty." At present, since His Majesty is still willing to summon the president to the palace for an audience, it can be seen that you still trust the president, but you just want to ask the reason for this matter. The president can take this opportunity to prove his innocence in front of His Majesty. ”

Yang Yuanzhen was silent for a long time when he heard this, and finally sighed leisurely: "Okay, the official has never done such a fraudulent thing, since he has a clear conscience, what's the harm in going through this experience?" ”

After saying that, he arched his hand to the examiners and went out with Gu Wan and the others.

Gu Wan was also quite polite to Yang Yuanzhen, not only did he not treat him with the attitude of treating criminals, but also personally helped him into the carriage, which made Yang Yuanzhen feel relieved.

Gu Wan brought more than a dozen of his subordinates into the palace with Yang Yuanzhen, while the Imperial City Division Brigade stayed behind, blocked the entire Tribute Academy, and interrogated the remaining dozen examiners one by one.

If there is indeed a leak of questions, Yang Yuanzhen, as the chief examiner, is naturally the most suspicious, but other examiners are also suspicious.

Until the matter is investigated, no one can leave the Gongyuan one step.

……

The apse of the Chongzheng Palace.

After paying homage, Yang Yuanzhen knelt at the foot of the stairs and waited for Zhao Zhen's questioning tremblingly.

Zhao Zhen on the throne yawned, rubbed his eyebrows again, and looked listless, obviously being woken up from his sleep just now.

More than two years have passed, and now Zhao Zhen is becoming more and more old, and he can't sleep for more than two hours a night.

was disturbed for no reason, or a major event such as fraud in the imperial examination, it is conceivable that Zhao Zhenxin must be very irritable.

However, Zhao Zhen has always been not angry with others, and after drinking half a bowl of ginseng soup to boost his spirits, listening to the reports of the people below, the more he thought about it, the more he felt that something was wrong.

Therefore, he did not put Yang Yuanzhen in prison in a fit of anger, but ordered the Imperial City Division to open the palace ban and bring Yang Yuanzhen into the palace for questioning.

Zhao Zhen stared at the Henan Township Test Yellow List in his hand, his fingers tapped lightly on the table, and his brows tightened more and more.

"Of the one hundred and twenty new imperial examiners, Yuzhou accounts for sixteen, and even Xie Yuan, who ranks first, is actually from Yuzhou, Yang Qingjia, as the chief examiner of the township examination, don't you have anything to explain to me?"

"Back to Your Majesty, the minister has been wronged!"

Yang Yuanzhen hurriedly took a few steps forward on his knees, kowtowed and said bitterly: "Weichen is thanks to His Majesty for the country, and he has always been trembling, walking on thin ice, and he does not dare to make the slightest mistake.

These 120 new imperial examinees are not arbitrary by Weichen alone, but by the joint discussion of all the examiners. If Your Majesty does not believe me, you can summon the rest of the examiners and ask them to find out. ”

Zhao Zhen looked at the old chamberlain who was in charge of the affairs of the Imperial City Division on the side, and saw that he nodded silently, and knew that what Yang Yuanzhen said was true.

Since there is no problem with the marking process, could it be that someone leaked the question in advance?

But before the autumn season, even Yang Yuanzhen himself didn't know that he would become the chief examiner of the township examination, and it was not until seven days before the exam that Zhao Zhen suddenly made an appointment.

After that, he didn't even let Yang Yuanzhen return home, and directly sent him from the Hanlin Academy to the courtyard of the proposition, and he was strictly guarded by the people of the Imperial City Division along the way.

With such a strict confidentiality system, it stands to reason that Yang Yuanzhen should not have the opportunity to leak the question at all, what went wrong?

Zhao Zhen glanced at Yang Yuanzhen, who was kneeling at the foot of the stairs in panic, and couldn't help but fall into deep thought.

At this moment, Gu Wan, the head of the imperial city, hurried to the outside of the palace, and the old chamberlain saw Gu Wan, and immediately cast an inquiring glance at Zhao Zhen, and when he saw Zhao Zhen nodding, he went out of the palace and talked to Gu Wan in a low voice.

After a short time, the old chamberlain returned to Zhao Zhen with a wooden box, whispered a few words to Zhao Zhen, opened the wooden box again, and put the contents on the eucalyptus.

Yang Yuanzhen lowered his head and lay on the ground, not daring to breathe, but he couldn't help but secretly glance at the imperial eucalyptus.

Seems like a book?

Yang Yuanzhen's heart tightened for no reason.

At this time, Zhao Zhen had already opened the thick book on the table, turned to a certain page according to the instructions of the old waiter, and then compared it with the first question of the township exam on the side.

After a while, Zhao Zhen's face changed color, and he slapped the book on the imperial eucalyptus, still feeling angry, and picked it up again, threw it down the stairs, and threw it at Yang Yuanzhen's feet.

"Okay, you Yang Yuanzhen, when you come to me, you dare to lie and deceive! This was searched from Guo Jin's residence, and the exam questions you came out of it were clearly written! ”