"Is that so?" Gao An will be skeptical.

Liu Guan didn't play dumb riddles, and said directly: "Of course, I have already asked, basically all of our northern scholars have fallen off the list, and none of them have reached the top!" ”

Gao An was shocked: "Why is this happening?" ”

"Hmph, why? If you think about it, these officials in the DPRK and China are all from Jiangsu, Zhejiang and other places, and of course they will be biased towards these scholars in the south! ”

Liu Guan snorted coldly.

Gao An was immediately furious after hearing this.

In order for him to enter Beijing to take the exam, his parents and relatives almost took out all the family funds, if he was not good, it would be fine, but now that he heard that he fell off the list because of the fraud and partiality of these southern officials, how could he not be angry!

"How can this be true? How dare they do this, I'm going to sue Your Majesty!" Gao An roared angrily.

Liu Guan heard this, but he was not so excited, but persuaded loudly: "Brother Gao, don't be impatient, the fraud in the imperial examination is very important, those instructors are all people in high positions and powers, I am afraid that it is useless to go with only the two of us, in my opinion, we still need to run to inform other northern scholars, and everyone will definitely attract His Majesty's attention together!" ”

Gao An was emotional, panting heavily, and only calmed down a little when he heard his words, and after thinking about it, he felt that this was indeed the case.

"Okay, then I'll go separately with Brother Liu to inform our northern scholars!"

"Hmm!"

Liu Guan nodded heavily, and then Gao An threw his luggage aside, walked out of the door with Liu Guan, and went separately to find the northern scholars who lived next to each other on the left and right.

In addition to Liu Guan and Gao An, other northern scholars who heard about this incident were also shocked and angry, and joined the ranks of propaganda one after another.

And the driving force behind this matter has stayed out of the matter and waited to see what happened.

The number of people who participated in the imperial examination this time was nearly 1,000, and although there were few from the north, there were also three or four hundred, and these scholars gathered together and flocked to the palace in a noisy and noisy manner.

These people were so powerful that they immediately attracted the attention of the people and the yamen in Beijing, and of course Jinyiwei was also indispensable.

However, the Jinyi guards who discovered this situation did not immediately come forward to stop it, although these people were all off the list, but they were also the identity of the lifters, unlike ordinary people, they could not be arrested casually, they could only report it while keeping an eye on it, so as not to cause them to make trouble.

When the scholars came to the noon gate outside the palace, the forbidden army stationed in the city couldn't help but be startled, and hurriedly raised their vigilance.

"What are you going to do?"

The pro-army servants stationed at the city gate hurriedly stepped forward to stop these soldiers and asked in a loud voice.

Although these soldiers were very angry, they did not dare to make a move with the forbidden army, and when they saw the forbidden army blocking the way, they stopped one after another, and shouted noisily:

"We want to see Your Majesty, we want to sue the Emperor!"

"Yes, the examiner cheated and favored the southern scholars, so that no one in my north was on the throne, do I want to divide the southerners and northerners like Meng Yuan?!"

"That's it! Please Your Majesty investigate the fraud in detail and give me justice to the northern scholars! ”

"Give me justice!"

The more the scholars talked, the more excited they became, and in a moment they formed a group of excitement.

Such a big matter, this matter did not dare to stop or report, and hurriedly shouted: "You wait here, I will go to your majesty!" ”

When the scholars heard this, they quieted down and urged the man to report the matter quickly.

He didn't dare to slack off, and hurried into the palace after explaining to his companions.

In the Wuying Palace, Zhu Yuanzhang was dealing with government affairs, and the little eunuch guarding outside the door suddenly walked in and said respectfully: "Your Majesty, please see Zhang Yan who is guarding the palace gate if he has something." ”

Zhu Yuanzhang frowned slightly, stopped his affairs, and said softly: "Let him come in." ”

"Yes!"

The little eunuch retreated out of the main hall, and then the Zhang servant walked in and hurriedly bowed: "See Your Majesty!" ”

"Excuse me, what's the matter?"

Zhu Yuanzhang glanced up at him and asked.

"Back to Your Majesty, there is a group of scholars outside the palace gate, claiming to be northerners, they say that there is fraud in the imperial examination, the examiner is partial to the southern scholars, and all the records are southerners, and none of them in the north are on the top, and some of them say ......"

Zhang Yishi hesitated in the end.

"Say what?" Zhu Yuanzhang asked eagerly.

"It is said that Your Majesty will follow the example of the former Yuan and divide the Han people into north and south, the south is noble and the north is cheap!"

"Bastard!"

Zhu Yuanzhang was furious!

The former Yuan divided the people into four classes, the Mongolian people were the most expensive, and the southern people were the cheapest, and he tried his best to restore the Han system after the recovery of China, so naturally it was impossible to be like Meng Yuan, but now because of a fraud in the imperial examination, the northern scholars had this idea, and it was okay!

If this matter is not handled well and the people in the north are lost, the Northern Yuan may even take advantage of this to resurrect and regain the vast land in the north again.

After all, no one wants to wait for someone at the moment, and the status of northerners in the pre-Yuan period was higher than that of southerners.

Zhu Yuanzhang's face was extremely gloomy, and he directly ordered:

"Go, pass on our will, immediately put Zhao Mao, Song Ne and other examiners in prison, and order the criminal department to be strictly interrogated!"

Now is not the time to consider whether this matter is true or false, but to show an attitude first, so that these scholars believe that the imperial court has no intention of dividing people into north and south!

"Yes!"

Zhang Shigong claimed that it was, and hurriedly turned around and left.

Zhu Yuanzhang looked out sharply, his mind turned sharply.

This matter must be dealt with as soon as possible, and it must not be delayed, otherwise the news will spread, and even if the court finally solves the matter, it will make the northerners worried, thus giving the north yuan a chance!

"Come on, spread our will, and immediately submit all the answer sheets of this imperial examination into the palace, and no one is allowed to tamper with it!"

Zhu Yuanzhang shouted out the door.

The little eunuch outside the door hurriedly claimed yes and left in a hurry.

After the two holy decrees went down, Jinyiwei quickly moved, first divided his troops to arrest Zhao Mao and Song Ne and others, and then urgently sealed all the answer sheets stored in the Ministry of Rites and sent them to the palace.

Zhao Mao, who was working in the Ministry of Rites, was taken out of the yamen of the Ministry of Rites by Jinyi Wei Suo before he could figure out what was going on, including several other officials of the Ministry of Rites who participated in the imperial examination. The same is true of Song Ne and Du Yi of Guozijian.

Zhu Yuanzhang's handling was very decisive, and he didn't even ask clearly, so he directly sent all the examiners to prison first, from palming, accepting, sealing, to reading the papers, all the examiners involved did not let go.

Among these people, there is Zhao Mao, who is a scholar, there is the sacrificial wine and business of the Guozijian, and there are also the revision and review of the Hanlin Academy, whether it is the important minister of the country or the Hanlin Qingliu, there is no exception.

"Well caught!"

"Your Majesty is wise!"

"These fraudulent examiners should be severely punished!"

When the scholars outside the palace gate saw that His Majesty understood the general intention so well, they immediately felt very happy, and applauded one after another, and in the excited applause, the resentment finally subsided a lot.

After dealing with these things, Zhu Yuanzhang sent the eunuch out to explain to everyone, promising that justice would be administered for them, and the scholars stopped and left in groups.

The scholars dispersed, and the matter came to an end for the time being, but the ministers in the court were shocked after receiving the news!

A dignified book, plus many highly prestigious officials, were so abruptly put into prison together, how could they not be shocked.

After learning the news, the ministers also hurriedly inquired about the ins and outs of the matter, and learned that it was because no one in the north of the imperial examination was on the throne that suing the examiner would lead to the arrest of these important ministers of the imperial court, and they were all surprised and inexplicable.

In charge of the department, Li Wei sat in the main seat, Wang Jie and Shen Jue sat next to him, and Jiang Shouqing and Jiang Quan from the Ministry of Industry, as well as Lu Xiu Zheng Zhihua and several others.

Although there are a lot of people, they are much more deserted than the full seats of high friends some time ago.

Li Wei glanced at everyone and asked Wang Jie, "Have you been notified yet?" ”

"Grandpa, everything that should be notified has been notified, but some people may be busy with official business and can't take a break."

After Wang Jie finished speaking, he showed an embarrassed smile.

Li Wei nodded slightly, Wang Jie didn't say that he also understood that these people were not busy with official business at all, but drew a line with him, a traitor who advocated the gentry to pay food together.

"Wu Shen didn't come either?"

"This ...... It should be coming soon. Wang Jie hesitated.

Zheng Zhihua in the crowd couldn't help but feel a little guilty when he saw this scene, and through the observation of the past few days, he also understood how much impact the words he said at the beginning had on the teacher.

Li Wei sighed secretly, a little disappointed in his heart.

"If you don't come, don't come, I called you here this time because I have something to tell you......"

Li Wei opened his mouth to speak, but as soon as the words came out, he saw Wu Shen and Wu Bozong who appeared outside the door, and even Han Yike and Daotong followed.

"I've seen Han Guogong."

"Grandpa!"

Several people saluted separately.

Li Wei was a little surprised, Wu Shen came over, Wu Bozong and Han Yike had never participated in his struggles, could it be that now they have changed their personality and are ready to devote themselves to the great cause of Li Party's party building?

"How did you guys get here?" Li Wei asked.

Wu Bozong chuckled and said: "I heard that the Duke of Guo is summoning, I will come over to have a good time, the Duke of Guo will not be unwelcome, right?" ”

Han Yike also nodded lightly, and so did Daotong.

"Welcome, of course welcome, please take a seat." Li Wei smiled slightly, raised his hand and pointed to the position of the lower head.

In Li Wei's heart, the status of Wu Bozong and Han Yike is higher than that of Wang Jie and others, after all, although Wang Jie is very loyal, his ability and conduct are much worse than Wu Bozong's, but people like Wang Jie are more convenient to use.

The ranking of everyone was slightly adjusted, Wu Bozong and the others took their seats, and Li Wei continued: "Everyone must have heard of the fraud in the imperial examination this time, right? ”

"Yes, I heard that."

"Your Majesty dealt with it decisively, but the matter has not been clarified yet, and I don't know what the result will be."

Wu Shen and Wang Jie responded one after another.

Wu Bozong and Han Yike also nodded to others.

Li Wei continued to ask: "Then do you think the fraud is real or false?" ”

When the crowd heard this, they fell silent.

The stakes are so high that they dare not make a conclusion lightly.

Wu Bozong frowned for a moment, and said: "I don't think it should be, Master Song is highly respected, and he will never do this, and His Majesty's temper and ministers are all clear now, and other examiners should not have the courage to do so." ”

Han Yike nodded lightly: "There should be no problem with the results of this examination." ”

Li Wei smiled lightly when he heard this, and said, "No problem is the biggest problem, haven't you heard what these northern scholars shouted outside the palace gate?" ”

Han Yike frowned when he heard this, so many scholars were making noise outside the palace, and the words of those people dividing the north and the south naturally came out, of course he also heard about it.

"This is just the complaint of those scholars, Your Majesty has no intention of dividing the people into north and south." Han Yike said categorically.

However, Li Wei shook his head and said, "Of course Your Majesty didn't mean this, but the question is, do the many scholars in the north believe it, and when they return to the north and tell the people, will the people believe it?" ”

As soon as Li Wei's words came out, everyone's faces changed.

Yes, whether the people believe it or not is the most important thing, those who have won the hearts of the people since ancient times will win the world, and the hearts of the people cannot be lost!

In relation to this, all truths, rights and wrongs have to be put aside.

"This ...... According to the meaning of the national prince, these officials who presided over the imperial examination this time are all doomed? ”

Wu Shen asked in a trembling voice, with both fear and faint joy in his heart.

He was originally the waiter of the Ministry of Rites, if it is still the meaning of Li Wei's words, the current Shangshu and the waiter of the Ministry of Rites may have to suffer, and when the Ministry of Rites is short of people, won't he have a chance to be reinstated?

Li Wei glanced at him and easily understood his thoughts.

However, his arrangement this time does have the intention of helping Wu Shen to ascend to the position, and if Wu Shen does not come this time, he will also choose someone else.

"Yes, these people will be degraded if they are not killed." Li Wei said softly.

"What about me?" Wu Shen eagerly pointed at himself tentatively.

Li Wei smiled and didn't say much, just bowed his head slightly.

Wu Shen was immediately overjoyed, and hurriedly got up and bowed: "Thank you, Guogong!" ”

"Thank me for what?" Li Wei looked surprised.

Wu Shen was slightly stunned, reacted immediately, and hurriedly smiled in disguise: "It's nothing, it's a lower official...... The lower officials were impressed by the prestige of the national duke, and unconsciously had such a move. ”

Li Wei was noncommittal, and said lightly: "Hurry up." ”

"Yes, yes!" Wu Shen got up from the ground and sat back in his seat, secretly rejoicing in his heart, and at the same time secretly glad that he was lucky to come!

In fact, after knowing what Li Wei's student Zheng Zhihua put forward, he and Wang Jie both hesitated to draw a clear line with Li Wei, Wang Jie was too deeply involved with Li Wei, there was almost no possibility of breaking off the relationship, and he could only go all the way to the black, but he had been dismissed, and it was still okay to switch to others. So after getting the notice this time, he hesitated for a long time, and finally found Wu Bozong and wanted to hear his opinion.

However, after Wu Bozong learned about the matter of apportioning the land into the mu, instead of scolding Li Wei like other officials, he praised it a lot anyway, and took the initiative to come with him, so he missed this opportunity.

In addition, the same is true for Han Yike and Daotong, in addition to them, there are other imperial history officials in the Imperial Court who have taken refuge in Li Wei, and they also learned about Li Wei's summoning from these people. (End of chapter)