Fraud in the imperial examination is almost a tacit secret of everyone in the officialdom of the Great Zhou Dynasty, and officials with a little way will do their best to take advantage of this triennial opportunity to push their children or protégés into the court, and this year, with the approval of Emperor Renzong, Pei Yuanhou, the prime minister of the dynasty, and the Supervision Department took action together to carry out a thorough investigation of this year-old malpractice.

This investigation can be said to have opened up the darkest and corrupt side of the officialdom of the Great Zhou.

According to statistics, in this imperial examination, nearly half of the students who were named on the final gold list were the children of official eunuchs or the queens of famous families! Of course, there must be many talented people among them, but more of them relied on their families to cheat on the list!

Emperor Renzong was furious and issued a decree that all those involved in fraud would be stripped of their merits and reputation, and they would not be allowed to take another examination within ten years, and if anyone in his family was an official in the court, all of them would be dismissed!

As for the depth of the involvement of officials at all levels of the Ministry of Rites and the Ministry of Officials, it is even more jaw-dropping; Mo Zijian, the secretary of the Ministry of Rites, returned to old age, and Qi Guangyuan, a servant of the Ministry of Rites, his son Qi Baichuan, and other officials involved in the case, a total of 37 people were transferred to justice! After this incident, almost half of the high-ranking officials of the two ministries were reduced.

When the news came out of the palace, the people were overjoyed, praising Renzong for his wisdom and Pei Xiang's might, and at the same time scolding those corrupt officials and scholars.

In this eradication, there are two things that will not attract the attention of ordinary people, but in the eyes of those who care, they are the great changes.

The first is the establishment of the Department of Parliamentary Affairs, which marks that the people of the Great Zhou Dynasty have the right to participate in politics in law, and this is also the first time in the history of the Central Continent for thousands of years that ordinary people have taken over the whip from the role of "sheep" and began to whisper their opinions to the administrators.

Of course, in the eyes of the officials of the Great Zhou, it is not possible to see such a long-term view now, but they also know that the civilian discussion of politics has always been one of the most fundamental political views of the officials who support the Jiayuan student movement, and the establishment of the parliamentary department is undoubtedly another major concession by the royalists to the student movement, and it is His Majesty the Emperor himself who makes the concession.

Among the corrupt officials in this imperial examination, the Ministry of Rites and the Ministry of Officials were originally the stronghold of the royalists, and after this incident, the voice of suppressing the student movement in the court in the future will become even thinner, as for Pei Yuanhou, with the respect of the prime minister, he actually deigned to lead the first division, which shows that the role that the parliamentary department will play in the future must be extraordinary.

The second thing, although Renzong made it clear that the matter of eliminating the malpractice would never be retroactive, some old things that had been buried in the dust were still rediscovered, and these things involved exchanges with the seventy-two tribes of the White Sea, such as smuggling salt and iron, and secretly communicating with each other.

Compared with the fraud in the imperial examination, the investigation of such incidents makes the officials involved more uneasy, after all, if the crime is confirmed, it is equivalent to treason, and it is definitely not enough to resign.

Regarding the investigation of the White Sea, insiders could not help but speculate that it seemed that the Great Zhou was about to have a new round of actions against the grassland, and during the ten-year truce, most of the Zhou people had obscured how tragic the war between this powerful enemy separated by a mountain had and the Great Zhou.

Among the old stories investigated, there is one thing that has not attracted the attention of most people, and that is the assassination of Princess Yongle.

On a day in mid-September when the autumn rain first arrived, a boy about seventeen or eighteen years old walked out of the courtyard of the headquarters of the Shoushan Supervision Department with an umbrella and a smile, and set foot on the road to Panlong Town alone.

On September 27, the 25th year of Hong Xiu, the first branch of the Great Zhou Dynasty was officially inaugurated in the mansion of Qi Shilang, the original owner of this mansion has now embarked on the road of exile.

The people are a little curious about such a yamen that has never appeared since ancient times, and they have gathered outside the door to watch, and after posting a notice on the tolerance and explaining the function of the political division to everyone, everyone immediately began to discuss excitedly, and said that the court is becoming more and more enlightened, but no one really walked into the grievances or politics, after all, since ancient times, the truth that disaster comes from the mouth is deeply rooted in the hearts of every Zhongzhou people, what can be said in the division, what can not be said, what extent can be said, no one knows, in the words of the onlookers, the court has given us face, we can not kick the nose on the face, otherwise what can be done in case people turn their faces。

But despite this, everyone looked at this new yamen with wide eyes, especially those ordinary people who were involved in the ideas of the student movement.

On the third day of October, the Department of Parliament ushered in the first ordinary person to join the council.

Liang Dongyuan came to the door of the first branch of the Supervision Department alone, looked up at the plaque hanging high, and remembered the humiliation he suffered here a month ago, as if he was in a lifetime.

It turned out that after the meeting of the court, everything was as Liang Dongyuan expected, the imperial court did not give a few witnesses and students a meritorious name, but announced that all the meritorious names on the list due to fraud were invalidated.

Several people walked out of the palace, and after the excitement of the face saint passed, they were all a little disappointed, but Liang Dongyuan was a little calm because he had expected it.

Originally, after all the dust settled, Liang Dongyuan had already planned to return home, but before he walked out of the city gate, he was stopped by a person, and the person who stopped him, he couldn't think of it, because that person claimed to be a servant of the Prime Minister's house.

Sure enough, it was a slanting wind and drizzle, and there was no need to return. Liang Dongyuan laughed at himself in his heart.

Pei Yuanhou met Liang Dongyuan, who had just met in the court, in the palace, and the prime minister was busy and didn't have much time to chat with Yibaiding, but Wen Sheng asked him three questions.

If you don't succeed in the imperial examination this time, you have to wait for three years to return to your hometown, are you willing?

If there is an opportunity now for you to serve the country and the people, and serve the country, would you be willing?

If you stay in the Prime Minister's Mansion, you may be greeted in the future with all kinds of infamy, do you regret it?

Liang Dongyuan pondered for a long time, and slowly bowed to Pei Yuanhou with the courtesy of a disciple.

Pei Yuanhou showed a gentle and kind smile on his face, nodded behind him, and the staff who had been waiting for a long time stepped forward with a smile, grabbed Liang Dongyuan's hands, and took him out.

So, this is where we have today.

Liang Dongyuan was dressed in cloth, and his face calmly sounded the big drum outside the division, the door of the division slowly opened, and the official in the green robe and black belt came out, and asked loudly with a smile: "Who is coming, what is the discussion?"

"Liang Dongyuan, a person from Liangcheng, has a lot of drawbacks in the imperial examination system, and it should be abolished and new rules should be established!"

"Please come in. ”

In just one month, everything that happened in Shengjing City, whether it was for future generations or today, has had a huge and far-reaching impact, but so far, all this has not had a significant impact on Panlong Town on the border of the empire, just when Liang Dongyuan stepped into the palace gate to draft a draft for the upcoming face saint, Zhao Xifeng took a family belongings and walked into the drum tower of the town with a bright face and a sunny face.