Those agents were in charge of monitoring the provincial capitals.

In the year of the imperial examination, hundreds of people from various provinces went to Beijing to take the exam, and most of them went out for the first time in their lives, let alone entered Beijing. If you are not familiar with the place and even the language, you will naturally be slaughtered as a fat sheep by the locals. Not to mention being bullied, there are often poor people who are killed for money and die in other places.

Juren is the elite of a province, and the future officials, the problems they encounter will naturally be solved.

Therefore, the seniors of the townspeople who were officials in Beijing came forward to Zhang Luo, and the businessmen of the same townspeople in Beijing paid for the purchase of houses in Beijing, hired servants, prepared meals, and provided accommodation for the children, and the guild hall was born. Because it is mainly set up for the reception of lifters to enter Beijing to catch the exam, it is also called the 'test hall'.

Of course, the guild hall is not idle, and it will also receive fellow townsmen and officials who come to Beijing for business, as well as wealthy businessmen who come to Beijing to do business, and over time it has become a meeting place for fellow villagers in Beijing. Therefore, if you live in the hall, you can not only eat and live for nothing, but also keep abreast of the latest exam information and get guidance from your predecessors.

This is too important in an era when information is very closed. Many candidates obviously have enough to learn, but because they don't understand the political trend of the imperial court and the latest trend in the literary world, they can't write pleasing and correct articles, and they still can't go to high school.

Therefore, even if the lifters are very rich, they will honestly live in the hall during the period before the exam. But because of this, in all the guild halls, there are secret agents of Jinyiwei.

Either they entered the guild hall and became servants, men, or even stewards inside. Either he was originally a member of the guild hall, and was later developed into a secret agent by Jinyiwei. In either case, it still continues the rules set by the third and sixth children at the beginning - they usually don't pay their wages, but as long as they have a harvest, they will be rewarded. It doesn't open for half a year, but it opens for a year......

This not only reduces the operating costs of Jinyiwei, allows the brothers to quickly establish a huge intelligence network under the condition of limited funds, but also improves the enthusiasm of the spies, so that they can keep their eyes open all the time and look for opportunities to make a fortune......

~~

"Since the children entered Beijing, the hall has been full of people all day long, full of friends." The secret agent in charge of the Jiangxi Hall was called Zhou Qi, and he reported to the prince in a respectful voice:

"The fellow villagers in Beijing are holding those lifters, and they themselves are proud of the spring breeze, they are really walking with the wind, the sound is like a bell, and there are people talking in the courtyard in the middle of the night, making them noisy all day long."

"As a result, since the day of the Dragon Boat Festival, the atmosphere in the hall has changed all of a sudden, and the lifters have become sneaky one by one, mysteriously gathered in the house, and they don't come out all day." Zhou Qi continued: "On such a hot day, every time they don't open the window, there are scholars guarding the door, it's just obvious that they are discussing some secrets. ”

"Yes, our Zhejiang Hall is also around the Dragon Boat Festival, and the lifters suddenly seem to have changed as if they have changed people, muttering behind closed doors all day long, can it not make people suspicious?" Several other agents nodded in agreement. "Huguang Hall is also ......"

"Hmm." Zhu Zhen sat behind the big case and listened attentively. Nodding again, he motioned for them to continue.

"Isn't it an axe to do this in front of us? The little ones must get to the bottom of it! Zhou Qi raised his eyebrows, and then reported:

"Although they are generally quite vigilant, but with so many people, there will always be a careless Ma Daha - the villain took advantage of their sleep at night to find a piece of paper from under the pillow of a candidate."

"What's the content?" Zhu Zhen asked in a deep voice.

"The villain is illiterate...... Zhou Qi smiled bitterly, and hurriedly said: "But I have already handed over the piece of paper back to the yamen." ”

"What about you?" Zhu Zhen asked a few other people.

"Back to the prince, our situation is similar." A few other spies also stole or copied, and got what they wanted from a few of them.

One of them, the only literate agent, reported: "On the scrap of paper found by the villain, nine arithmetic problems were written. ”

"Where's the question?" Zhu Zhen's eyes flashed coldly. "Why didn't the king see it on your bill?"

"Then the villain doesn't know." Several people shook their heads.

Zhu Zhen looked at Governor Jinyiwei who was in charge of filling out the official book, and the governor hurriedly bowed down and reported: "Back to the prince, the written evidence sent with the certificate will usually be directly pasted on the official book to facilitate Shangfeng's reference. ”

"No wonder ......" He finally knew why he had to tear up those pages of records directly.

"That's not right." Zhu Zhen suddenly remembered something again, and said: "If this king remembers the written evidence, he must also copy a copy of the document to avoid losing the original." ”

"Yes." The governor and the spies were all pale and stammered: "But, but then the management is not strict, and no one ......."

Halfway through speaking, they felt a piercing chill, and caught a glimpse of Mao Xiang's eyes with their peripheral vision, as if they were about to kill.

Several people sighed in their hearts, and hurriedly changed their words: "Yes, we are slacking off ourselves, and we did not strictly follow the regulations, and all the mistakes are our fault......"

Zhu Zhen didn't bother to care about these things with them, and asked himself: "Even if there is no evidence, who do you find the exam questions from, do you still remember?" ”

"Of course, of course." Several people hurriedly nodded: "I won't admit my mistake if I turn into ashes." ”

"Then what are you doing in a daze, hurry up and take someone to get someone!" Mao Xiang stomped his feet.

"Don't startle the snake." Zhu Zhen shook his head and said, "Keep an eye on them, and wait until it gets dark before you do it." ”

"Yes, it's reckless." Mao Xiang wiped the sweat from his forehead, and then said ashamedly: "These two years are really unreasonable, I have wasted the prince's hard work, and I am guilty of despicability, please punish the prince." ”

"This king doesn't care about Jinyiwei anymore." Zhu Zhen waved his hand, signaling that he didn't have to say so: "I also understand your hardships, but there is one thing, if you don't do something, you have to do something - what does your father raise you for?" Such a big thing, his old man is actually in the dark, aren't you looking for a way to die? ”

"Yes, the prince is too right." Mao Xiang's face was full of shame, and he sighed: "This psychology that more things are better than less things is really deadly." ”

"At the beginning, Cao Xiu had this kind of thought, and was sent to the imperial tomb guard by his father, do you think you have the face of Cao Xiu? Did your mother save my father's life? Zhu Zhen asked lightly: "Can he end up so well in the end?" ”

"Nope." Mao Xiang was sweating with white hair, kneeling down and thanking him: "The prince really woke up the dreamer with a word, Mao Xiang understands what to do." ”

"Okay, this king looks at your performance." Zhu Zhen nodded. In fact, he was very dissatisfied with Mao Xiang.

But in the capital, doing this kind of thing with one's own strength is purely a way to die. I can only borrow Jinyiwei for the time being, so it is enough to give him a shallow beating and let him try his best to do the current errand.