Rule over Ming Dynasty

"Shuzi, you really deserve to die!" Zhuang Bochang saw Tang Yin talking so loudly in the restaurant with his own eyes, and he immediately gritted his teeth in anger.

He was exactly a year older than Tang Bohu. This was his fifth time taking part in the examination. He felt that his talent was not inferior to that of Tang Ziwei, and his efforts were even more difficult to match than Tang Bohu's.

In Jiangnan, who doesn't know Tang Bohu's romantic reputation.

Tang Bohu's affair with a prostitute was reported to Tixue Fangzhi. Originally, Tixue master wanted to deprive Tang Bohu of his qualification to participate in the provincial examination, but Fang Yunming's father and others came forward to intercede.

God is unlucky, in this place where fireworks are usually seen, a person who only started studying in the last half of the year actually passed the Jieyuan exam in Nanzhili.

In this conference, when faced with the historical strategy of "Asking among the hundreds of schools of thought in the Spring and Autumn Period, which one has the most connection with Lu Buwei and can tell its story?", he did not know the connection at all.

Although he praised Confucianism in his answer sheet, when he came out and learned that Lu Buwei was actually a representative of the Zajia family, he already knew that he would fail the exam for the sixth time.

Zhuang Bo often adjusted his emotions quickly, but suddenly a plan came to his mind: "It will be hard for me to fail the exam. You can't even think about getting your wish. You will go to hell!"

With the help of concerned people, this public opinion quickly fermented.

There are many candidates who did not perform well in the examination room like Uncle Zhuang. When these frustrated candidates heard such remarks, they felt extremely angry and wanted to kill this person.

Originally, some people wanted to make some sarcastic remarks to Tang Yin, but it turned out that the other person was Tang Yin, a talented man from the south of the Yangtze River and a man named Xie Yuanlang from Nanzhili. He seemed to have the qualifications to be so arrogant.

Just facing this mad student who rubbed salt into the wound, they also developed a strong sense of hostility.

"Did he answer it?"

"No, absolutely impossible!"

"How can a person who has been wandering around the land of fireworks for many years answer such a tricky question?"

……

The deeds of Tang Yin have been exaggerated by Zhuang Bochang. Combined with the difficulty of this question, many candidates have deep doubts.

Throughout the ages, fraud in examination rooms is nothing new.

If Tang Yin didn't answer normally, it could only be cheating. Although the examination room has an anti-fraud system for name anonymity and copying, everything is operated by people, and human operations leave room for cheating for personal gain.

Because of this, speculations about Tang Yin's fraud were rampant, and the credit for all this was naturally attributed to Zhuang Bochang and a large group of failed candidates who had nowhere to vent.

"Tang Yin must have cheated!"

"Yes, how could he answer such a tricky historical policy question without cheating!"

"Tang Yin has already said that he will be a Jinshi before the examination has started. Isn't that strange?"

……

As the incident continues to unfold, some people who originally only speculated in their minds have now expressed their suspicions of fraud directly.

Since everyone believed that Tang Yin had cheated, they naturally had to start looking for evidence. Those who could participate in the examination cheating were naturally either rich or noble.

The resentment in the hearts of the losers was deeper than anyone else. Thinking that Tang Yin was born in Suzhou, the most powerful city in the world, he immediately began to dig out the three generations of Tang Yin's ancestors.

"His family must be very rich!"

"Huh? His father Tang Guangde just runs a tavern?"

"He must be a second-generation official!"

"Haha... His grandfather Tang Tai was the head of the Vehicle and Driving Department of the Ministry of War and died in Tumu Fort!"

"False? This person was not included in the list of officials killed in Tumu Fort back then? Wasn't the director of the driving department whose surname was Tang?"

……

However, the results of the investigation disappointed them. Originally, they thought that Tang Yin was either a son of an official or a wealthy family, but it turned out that he was neither of the two.

If the son of a tavern owner could cheat in the examination hall, that would be the most bizarre thing in the world.

Although some people began to suspect that Tang Yin's father Tang Guangde had a great favor to Song Cheng, but one was in Suzhou Prefecture in the south and the other was in Huizhou Prefecture in the northwest. The two places were really far away from each other.

Zhuang Bochang is from Changzhou Prefecture and is a veteran civil servant, so he is naturally more aware of the people and things in Southern Zhili than the candidates from other places.

In response to Tang Yin's denunciation, he naturally could not let the matter stop abruptly, and immediately released appropriate "new information".

"His friend Xu Jing's family is as rich as the country?"

"I heard that when the two of them went to Beijing, they found six singers in Yangzhou, and then they went all the way north, playing tricks every day!"

"Although they met while taking the exam, Xu Jing is a big fan of Tang Yin. It makes sense for Xu Jing to give Tang Yin the questions he paid for!"

……

Since no flaws were found in Tang Yin, everyone quickly set their sights on Xu Jing, Su Yin's new rich second-generation friend, and Xu Jing's wealth could naturally make him a suspect for fraud.

Xu Jing and Tang Yin originally met on the road and went to Beijing together, but now in their eyes, they are brothers of life and death who can wear the same pants.

Uncle Zhuang often thought of his experience of being rejected, and immediately released the explosive news again.

"That's great, guess what I found out?"

"Do you know who Xu Jing and Tang Yin visited before the exam?"

"They visited Song Cheng, the Minister of the Ministry of Justice of the dynasty. Song Cheng was not only from Southern Zhili, but also the examiner of this examination!"

……

After some digging, the last piece of the puzzle has been completed, that is, Tang Yin and Xu Jing are good friends, and the two of them visited the examiner Song Cheng together.

Although Tang Yin did not have the money to buy test questions from Song Cheng, Xu Jing was a well-known rich second generation, so it was natural and reasonable to spend a large sum of money to buy test questions from Xu Jing, the Minister of Punishment.

"If that's the case, then everything makes sense!"

"It's a lie that Tang Yin and Xu Jing came to visit, but it's true that they bought the questions!"

"Although Xu Jing provided the money, Xu Jing also shared the question with Tang Yin!"...

The failed candidates were induced by thoughtful people, and the whole process of a fraud case in the examination room has taken shape, and the main participants are Tang Yin, Xu Jing and Song Cheng.

"We must not let maggots like this ruin the talent promotion ceremony!"

"Such blatant fraud is unheard of!"

"We are petitioning the authorities to find out their fraud!"

……

Because the fraud in the examination room was said to be serious, many candidates really couldn't answer the question, so they pointed the finger at Tang Yin, and two other important participants, the examiner Song Cheng and Xu Shangshu of the Ministry of Justice through.

Stepping on corpses and rising to the top has always been the path to promotion for officials in the Department of Science and Technology.

After Hu Kezhizhonghuachang learned the whole story, he immediately wrote a memorial to impeach Song Cheng. He suspected that Song Cheng had leaked the test questions to Tang Bohu and Xu Jing in advance, and asked the emperor and the cabinet to investigate the matter.

In the capital city in February, the spring is freezing.

Zhu Youtang, wearing a dragon robe, was handling government affairs in the Yangxin Hall as usual. It has been twelve years since he took the throne, and he is about to turn thirty.

This age is actually still relatively young. However, the Emperor of the Ming Dynasty is a short-lived profession. If it is the same as the original history, there are actually only a few years left.

Fortunately, since the year he ascended the throne, he has deliberately adjusted his diet to make his diet healthier, and he also refused food from Qingning Palace.

Zhu Youtang is very open-minded about life span. If God really wants to take him away, then he has no complaints. As an emperor, he has done this, and he is worthy of the people of the world, and he is worthy of the blood flowing in his body.

"I pay homage to your Majesty!" Yin Zhi, the chief assistant of the cabinet, walked in and saluted respectfully.

If Zhu Youtang is considered old at thirty, then Yin Zhi is actually over sixty and now has a head full of white hair. However, he takes good care of himself and his body and bones are still strong.

In the original history, it was Zhu Youtang who died before Yin Zhi.

Zhu Youtang picked up Hu Ke's memorial to Shi Zhonghuachang and handed it to Liu Jin for delivery. In fact, no matter how things went wrong, they would eventually come to the cabinet and the emperor.

If the original history is followed, Emperor Hongzhi would naturally follow the advice of the cabinet. The chief minister of the cabinet at that time was Xu Pu, the Qingliu leader. Naturally, he would take care of the public opinion of the scholar-bureaucrat class, so he definitely agreed to conduct an investigation.

In fact, there was still a dispute between the North and the South here. At that time, Xu Pu was from the Northern Party, and Cheng Minde was from the Southern Party, so Xu Pu would not miss this opportunity to attack the Southern Party.

However, the current Hongzhi Emperor Zhu Youtang is not the kind of emperor who follows the wind and rain, and it is impossible to obey the cabinet in everything. Instead, he has his own clear judgment.

Judging from various signs, this fraud case is just a rumor. The only evidence is that "Tang Yin claimed that he could win the championship." But isn't it normal for such words to come from the mouth of a genius?

"Your Majesty, the talent promotion ceremony is related to the foundation of the Ming Dynasty. This matter should be taken seriously!" Yin Zhi said solemnly after reading Hu Ke's memorial to Shi Zhonghua Chang.

Although he didn't think it was a fraud in his heart, it was ultimately related to the most important talent selection of the Ming Dynasty, so careful consideration would naturally make the Metropolitan Procuratorate take it seriously.

It's like someone crying wolf. Although you can't believe it all at once, you still have to at least look up.

Zhu Youtang picked up the tea cup next to him and spit out two words: "Thorough investigation!"

"This fraud in the examination room is just based on rumors. It should not disrupt the current talent promotion ceremony. Your Majesty, please think twice!" Yin Zhi's eyes widened and he immediately admonished.

Zhu Youtang took a sip of tea, raised his eyes and looked at the nervous Yin Zhi and said: "Who said that I want to thoroughly investigate the cheating in the examination! I have heard the rumors in the capital a few days ago. Who is the source of such slander? The Procuratorate must investigate this matter and make this case a regular practice! In the future, if candidates fail to take the exam, they will accuse them of cheating and accuse others randomly. The fairness of our exam is not a failure for him. Those who throw dirty water at will!”

This decision has nothing to do with saving Tang Bohu, but stems from the normal thinking of an emperor.

Those candidates failed in the examination room. It was just a wild guess, and they openly "stormed" Tang Yin and others. Although it was their way of venting their emotions, it was undoubtedly unfair to Tang Yin and others.

If you stop the examination papers because of this and start investigating people and things for which there is no evidence, you will be the biggest fool in the world.

"Your Majesty, the imperial court has always tacitly allowed those who failed to express their emotions. If this matter is investigated further, your Majesty's reputation may be damaged!" Yin Zhi breathed a secret sigh of relief, and then reminded him with a worried look.

"I don't want to cherish my reputation. Future generations will call me a tyrant!" Zhu Youtang has never valued these false reputations. He seemed to be selfless and said: "It's just that Song Cheng is not greedy for a penny, and Tang Yin also participated in the examination according to the procedures. Why should he let an upright official He suffered an unjust injustice! Find out if it was fabricated by someone who failed in the exam, but Hua Chang did not focus on the household department but went to the etiquette department to find out if he was impeached because of his relatives and friends. "

"Your Majesty is wise, I obey your decree!" Yin Zhi felt Zhu Youtang's strong will and saluted in a formal manner.

To the east of the city, there is Mingchun Restaurant.

Uncle Zhuang was exchanging glasses with his friends, with a proud smile on his face.

My classmate and friend Hua Chang has already submitted the impeachment memorial, and I believe there will be a result soon. If a re-examination can be arranged this time, everyone will be happy that year.

Of course, even if there is no re-examination scheduled this time, if that question is defined as a leaked question, then the examiners will naturally reduce the score of that question, and they may be selected.

Zhuang Bochang was in a good mood, and he raised his wine glass and said proudly: "We don't know yet whether he will go to high school, but Tang Ziwei will definitely have to stay in the dormitory!"

"Let's drink to get rid of Tang Zi's fear of the harm caused by such imperial examinations!" Other candidates raised their glasses to greet him, believing that the imperial court would start investigating the fraud in the examination room.

Just when he was intoxicated with this contentment, there was a rush of footsteps coming from the stairs of the restaurant.

"Which one of you is Zhuang Bochang, the Changzhou Judizi?" Wang Yu, deputy director of the Procuratorate of the Metropolitan Procuratorate, personally brought people up and looked at everyone present with blazing eyes.

Those present could not help but look at each other in confusion, and then turned to look at Zhuang Bochang.

Zhuang Bo often knew that the other party was from the Metropolitan Procuratorate, so he immediately stood up and said with a smile, "Are you an official from the Metropolitan Procuratorate? You are looking for me because of the fraud in Tang Yin's examination room. I am the same person as this person." As someone from South Zhili, I do know some things!”

"Zhuang Bochang, I have three questions to ask you. You must answer them truthfully!" Wang Yu is no longer the conflicted young man he was back then and asked very steadily.

Zhuang Bochang raised the corners of his mouth slightly, and immediately expressed his position: "Even if this official asks, I will definitely tell you everything I know!"

"Last year on the Qinhuai River, you fell in love with Tang Yin because of your friendship. You wanted to attack Tang Yin but you lost your front tooth instead?" Wang Yu noticed that Zhuang Bochang was missing a front tooth and asked very seriously.

This……

Juzi who was present heard that there was such a grievance, but he didn't expect that this man kept scolding Tang Yin for being a prostitute. In the end, he himself was jealous of the brothel girl. He was really a hypocrite.

Uncle Zhuang was about to argue, but facing Wang Yu's sharp gaze, he could only lower his head silently and said: "Yes!"

"Asked among the hundreds of schools of thought in the Spring and Autumn Period, which one has the most connection with Lu Buwei and can tell his story? Did you answer this question incorrectly, or did you hand in a blank paper?" Wang Yu spoke again and asked the second question.

Zhuang Bochang's face instantly turned pale, but the cold sweat on his forehead and trembling hands betrayed his inner panic. (End of chapter)