"Your Majesty is angry."

Gu Yuanhui lowered his body and looked frightened, but his face was calm as usual: "The minister has no such intention." ”

"Oh? Is it? Emperor Jingfeng looked at him with a smile, a chill in his eyes, "Then please ask Gu Qing to tell me, what do you mean?" ”

Gu Yuanhui's throat rolled, trying to make his voice sound calm: "Your Majesty has appointed ministers and others as marking officers to review and screen candidates' test papers on your behalf, and the ministers dare not be sloppy." However, the imperial examination is very important, and the palace examination is the top priority of the imperial examination, which is related to the future of the imperial court. ”

"Therefore, the ten examination papers that have just been presented to His Majesty are arranged according to the ranking of the candidates, and they are not self-proclaimed. The minister's move is precisely to try his best to prevent the minister's attitude from affecting the overall situation, so as to attribute all the power of judgment to His Majesty. ”

Saying that, Gu Yuanhui's tone became excited, and his eyes turned red: "The minister Gu Yuanhui is full of courage and loyalty, lest he can't go to the soup for His Majesty, how dare he threaten His Majesty to be the sole regent of the government?" Your Majesty, please be wise! ”

Emperor Jingfeng was slightly stunned, and even went to look at the rest of the volumes: Gu Yunji was Fang Zigui below, and after Fang Zigui was Cheng Yan, and then ...... There are 10 in total, and although there are some differences between the list and the top 10 in the examination, they are indeed arranged according to the ranking of the examination.

Seeing this, his expression softened, the chill in his eyes dissipated instantly, and his face changed in an instant. Before the eunuch palace maid kneeling on the ground could react, Emperor Jingfeng had already walked down the steps and helped Gu Yuanhui up with his own hands: "So that's the case, it's Gu Qing who is to blame." ”

Emperor Jingfeng patted his hands and smiled kindly: "I didn't hold my temper for a while before, scared Gu Qing, right?" Gu Qing is a veteran of the two dynasties, loyal, how could I not know? I'm just talking, Gu Qing don't go to my heart. ”

Gu Yuanhui raised his hand and wiped his tears, looking sad: "As long as Your Majesty is willing to believe in the minister, the minister will be satisfied." ”

Emperor Jingfeng looked at Gu Yuanhui's face, and his eyes showed concern: "I see that Gu Qing has been a lot haggard these days, and I think it is because the imperial examination affairs are complicated and tired. ”

"Someone." As he spoke, Emperor Jingfeng beckoned, "Take two red ginseng that the Goryeo Kingdom paid tribute to last year, and let Master Gu take it back to replenish his body." ”

"Thank you, Your Majesty, for the reward." Gu Yuanhui burst into tears, and immediately knelt down to thank him, but was stopped by Emperor Jingfeng.

Emperor Jingfeng smiled and said, "Gu Qing has been tired for so many days, so let's go back and rest first." As for those papers, after I have finished reviewing and setting the ranking, I will send someone to send them to Gu Qing. ”

Gu Yuanhui said respectfully: "Yes, the minister retired." ”

As soon as he walked out of the imperial study, Gu Yuanhui's legs were weak and he almost fell to the ground.

He touched his clothes soaked in cold sweat, his face was so pale that there was no trace of blood, and he was terrified. Even though he guessed Emperor Jingfeng's attitude towards this matter, and probably expected the other party's reaction, but when he was really under Emperor Jingfeng's terrifying dragon power, he was still so frightened that his brain went blank, and he almost couldn't say a word.

The so-called companion is like a companion tiger, and it is really not just talking.

In the imperial study, Emperor Jingfeng looked at the direction of Gu Yuanhui's departure from a distance, and the smile on his face faded little by little.

After a while, he suddenly asked: "Before, you said about the rumors about Gu Yunji Lianzhong Sanyuan, what was Gu Yuanhui's reaction?" ”

Feiyuwei quietly showed his figure, and replied: "Back to Your Majesty, Gu Yuanhui did not give any explanation and clarification on this, but only restrained the servants in the family and ordered them not to follow the rumors, and also refused all banquets on the grounds of congratulating the children in the family, and returned the congratulatory gifts sent by his colleagues. ”

"At the same time, Gu Yunji's side has been staying in the hall every day for the past few days, not socializing with anyone, and his subordinates guess that he may have been instructed by Gu Yuanhui, so he closed his door."

"Hmph, Gu Yuanhui, this old fox." Emperor Jingfeng snorted lightly, turned around and sat down in front of the table, "This is because I am afraid that I will condemn him because of rumors, so I rushed to show my loyalty in front of me." It's just that he still made this first suppression and then promotion, so that I was at a loss, not only could he not ask for the guilt, but he also had to be angry to appease him, which was really calculating. ”

casually said this, Emperor Jingfeng did not mention the matter, and then looked at the answer sheets of the candidates for the examination on the table.

After reading the scrolls one by one, Emperor Jingfeng's face sank down a little, and his voice was cool: "Gu Yunji, the nephew of Gu Yuanhui, the secretary of the Criminal Department; Fang Zigui, the son of Fang Shu, the first assistant of the cabinet; Zhang Ji, the younger brother of Zhang Xiang, a member of the Ministry of Rites...... This imperial examination is about the comprehensive selection of talents in an eclectic manner, but in fact, most of the people in the examination are still children of families, and the scholars of poor families are squeezed into almost a few places. ”

"When they enter the court, eighty percent still follow in the footsteps of their father and brother, each has a predetermined camp to belong to, how many can listen to my words and be a loyal pure minister? From generation to generation, the imperial examinations came and went, and in the end, the official positions of the imperial court were still in the hands of those people. ”

Looking at it, Emperor Jingfeng suddenly looked at him, raised his head and asked Feiyuwei: "This ...... Cheng Yan, whose son is it? ”

Feiyuwei said: "Back to Your Majesty, Cheng Yan is a native of Huating County, Songjiang Prefecture, and his family has been farming for generations, and there is no high-ranking dignitaries to rely on, so he is a real poor person. ”

"Really?" Emperor Jingfeng raised his eyebrows unexpectedly, looking disbelieving, "But if he was born in poverty, how did he pass the exam all the way?" Could it be that with a few acres of thin land in his family, he can support an expensive bundle? ”

Feiyuwei replied: "As far as his subordinates know, Cheng Yan once received funding from Gu Kaizhen, that is, Gu Yunji's father, so that he had the expenses to go to Luxi Academy. But it is limited to this, Gu Kaizhen's funding is a personal act, and it does not represent Songjiang Gu's. Moreover, Cheng Yan received the support of the government after the promotion, and he never asked the Gu family for money again. ”

"This is rare, I can go from the township examination to the palace examination by myself, and the results are so good, it is really not easy."

After carefully reading Cheng Yan's scroll from beginning to end, Emperor Jingfeng's eyes showed appreciation: "Cheng Yan's experience should be the best interpretation of 'the prince will have a kind of Xiangning'." However, the imperial examination should be like this, but when it comes to talent and learning, regardless of background, it is also the true meaning of taking scholars from between the fields and cottages. ”

Immediately afterwards, Emperor Jingfeng dipped his pen in ink, thought for a moment, and then dropped the big characters of Zhu Pi on the ten volumes in turn.

After setting the ranking in one go, Emperor Jingfeng summoned Ning Fuhai: "Send someone to send these scrolls to the Ministry of Rites, and let them fill in the list according to this ranking in two days." ”

"Yes."