In the imperial study, Feiyuwei was reporting to Emperor Jingfeng the news he had heard in the past few days.

"......'Gu Yunji will soon become the third person in this dynasty', I don't know what to say, when my subordinates and others realized it, they quickly swept the whole city, and the streets and alleys were all talking, even the old and weak women and children were no exception."

Feiyuwei knelt on one knee on the ground, his face was calm when he spoke, without any guiding hints or tones, but simply stating the facts: "For a while, everyone was sought after by the people, scrambling to have a relationship with Gu Yunji and wanting to get the so-called "Wenqu Xing Xiqi", and even the merchants had a wave of enthusiasm, and they all used 'Lianzhong Sanyuan' as a gimmick to attract guests. ”

"There are even fellow villagers with Gu Yunji, who have begun to prepare firecrackers, plaques and other utensils to celebrate the 'Lianzhong Sanyuan', and they talk to each other with convincing words, as if Gu Yunji's high school champion has become a fact."

Emperor Jingfeng listened quietly, and the fingers holding the pen were a little harder, and they turned white. After a while, his fingers loosened, and his voice was cool: "Heh, I don't even know who the champion of this year is, but they decided for me first." ”

Emperor Jingfeng's eyes narrowed slightly, and the ink in his eyes was deep: "According to the current situation, if I don't point Gu Yunji as the champion, won't I still live up to the expectations of the people?" It is really a good means to coerce public opinion to persecute me. ”

Flying Fish Guard lowered his head, not daring to answer.

Slowly exhaling a breath, Emperor Jingfeng raised his head slightly, staring at Feiyuwei: "Regarding this matter, what is Gu Yuanhui's reaction?" Have you ever wondered if he is contributing to this? ”

"Gu Yuanhui's ...... over there"

Feiyuwei was about to answer, but Ning Fuhai walked in from the outside and said to Emperor Jingfeng at the top: "Your Majesty, Lord Gu Yuanhui, the secretary of the Criminal Department, has come with the palace examination papers to ask Your Majesty to appoint the first rank. ”

"As soon as I mentioned him, he came by himself, which is quite a coincidence." Emperor Jingfeng raised his eyebrows, his expression was a little surprised, "Let him come in." ”

Flying Fish Guard stood up: "That subordinate will avoid first." ”

Emperor Jingfeng nodded: "Yes." ”

After a while, Gu Yuanhui walked in with a stack of exam papers and knelt down in front of Emperor Jingfeng: "Minister Gu Yuanhui, see Your Majesty." ”

Emperor Jingfeng raised his hand to let him get up, and smiled kindly: "No courtesy." The palace exam has just ended, and the papers will be read in a few days, presumably Gu Qing must have been so busy these days that he hasn't slept much, right? It's really hard work. ”

Gu Yuanhui said: "It is the duty of the minister to select talents for the imperial court, and it is also the honor of the minister, and I don't feel hard in my heart." What's more, there are also Lord Fang and Lord Cai who read the file together, and the ministers dare not take credit alone. ”

Listening to Gu Yuanhui's sleek answer, Emperor Jingfeng smiled slightly and did not comment.

Gu Yuanhui bowed down, held the answer sheet in his hand high, and asked respectfully: "Your Majesty, the answer sheets of the three hundred candidates for the palace examination have all been read, and they are only waiting for Your Majesty to order the first rank, do you need the ministers to read the papers for Your Majesty?" ”

The nominal chief examiner of the palace examination is the emperor himself, so strictly speaking, there is no real examiner, only a "paper reader" - reading the paper to the emperor so that the emperor can evaluate the ranking.

However, due to the excessive number of answer sheets and the fact that the emperor has every opportunity, it is impossible to personally judge every test paper, so it is often the cabinet officials who have finished judging in advance, and then select some of the better answer papers for the emperor to set the ranking, and this process of the emperor personally assessing the ranking requires the reader to read the paper.

The work of reading the papers was tedious and tedious, and in most cases was carried out by Hanlin officials, although the emperors usually preferred to read the papers themselves, making the process gradually reduced to a passing one. But there are also many emperors who sometimes have a whim, randomly ordering people to read the papers for themselves, or petty officials of low rank, or literate eunuchs, but there is no such high power as Gu Yuanhui in any case.

As if he didn't expect Gu Yuanhui to say this, Emperor Jingfeng's pen paused slightly, looked up at him, and asked with interest: "Gu Qing is a scholar, a cabinet assistant, and he can't get away from dealing with the important affairs of the imperial court on weekdays, can he still do such trivial things as reading papers?" ”

Gu Yuanhui lowered his head, and his posture was neither humble nor arrogant: "Your Majesty is serious." No matter how big or small the officials are, they all do things for the court, and there is no difference in essence. What's more, the minister Gu Yuanhui can have today, thanks to His Majesty's support, as long as he can share his worries for His Majesty, there is nothing the minister can't do. ”

"Gu Qingguo is a loyal minister of my Great Xia Dynasty, with a pillar of the court like you, I can rest assured." Emperor Jingfeng praised him casually, and he didn't know if it was true or false, "But it's good if you have this heart, if you really read the volume, you don't have to." Submit ten papers with the best answers, and I can read them myself. ”

"Yes." Gu Yuanhui responded, and then presented the prepared volume in advance.

Emperor Jingfeng took it with a smile, but when he saw the name "Gu Yunji" written on the top scroll, the smile on his face instantly froze, and his eyes suddenly became cold.

"Snap" slammed the roll on the table, Emperor Jingfeng's fierce momentum leaked out, and his words carried a dangerous aura: "Why, Gu Qing is the same as them, do you think I should point your good nephew, Gu Yunji, as the champion of this year?" ”

Gu Yuanhui knelt down decisively, and the whole person fell to the ground: "The minister doesn't dare." ”

"Don't dare? Scold. Emperor Jingfeng sneered and held up Gu Yunji's scroll, "Then what does Gu Qing mean by this?" Put Gu Yunji's scroll on the top so that I can see it at a glance, doesn't this already represent your attitude? Or is this not just Gu Qing's decision alone, but the result of Fang Shu and Cai Zhichuan's joint discussion? ”

The top few in the palace examination will be appointed by the emperor, and before that, the examiners will screen out some excellent answer sheets, and arrange them according to the level and then hand them to the emperor, which is equivalent to providing a reference for the emperor. And this order of arrangement basically represents the inner tendency of the examiners, that is, the higher the paper, the more qualified it is to be ranked first.

There is the will of the people outside, and there is the attitude of officials inside, and now this situation is as if the inside and outside are uniting to put pressure on Emperor Jingfeng, forcing him to have Gu Yunji as the champion.

Emperor Jingfeng hated being persecuted the most in his life, thinking of this, the anger in his heart slowly rose, and gradually became a prairie fire, and the imperial power of the emperor who had been on the top for a long time pressed towards Gu Yuanhui like a mountain and a sea, and his voice was cold and biting;

"Coerced public opinion to put pressure on me, intending to use public opinion to influence the admission results of the palace examination. Gu Qing's move was because he felt that I was still young and couldn't completely control the government, so I wanted to remind me that without a few of you humerus pillars, the entire court would not be able to move, right? ”

As soon as the words fell, the eunuch and palace maid in the imperial study knelt on the ground.