Early Tang Dynasty: forge ahead

Chapter 194 Relaxed and comfortable
"Student Di Renjie, I have met Mr. Chen!"

A simple sentence, a bow to say hello.

But Chen Qingsi's heart was filled with huge waves.

Di Renjie?
Old Dige?
Di Pangpang?
After being stunned, Chen Qingsi couldn't help but feel ecstatic. Bao Gong was not possessed. Could it be that Di Gong was here?
Suppressing the joy in her heart, Chen Qingsi returned the salute and said, "Did Mr. Lang hear any unusual sounds?"

Di Renjie said: "It's the sound of gold and stone breaking when it hits the ground."

"Gold and stone?" Chen Qingsi asked, thinking about what it would be.

Di Renjie has already said: "Students think it is an inkstone!"

He knew that he was speaking softly, so he explained: "The imperial examination entrance inspection is strict. The only metal and stone objects that can be brought into the examination room are the copper furnace and the inkstone. The copper furnace will indeed make the sound of metal and stone when it hits the ground, but it will not break. Only the inkstone , will shatter after landing. The student thought that he could check the inkstone to see whose inkstone is missing."

Chen Qingsi thought for a while and ordered someone to investigate.

Zhou Simao frowned and said: "The situation was chaotic at the time. Before we could control the situation, it was not surprising that the candidates ran away in fear of the fire and knocked down the inkstone."

As soon as Zhou Simao finished speaking, someone immediately responded: "What Superintendent Zhou said is that the student's inkstone cracked because he accidentally knocked it over."

In the dormitory on the right that was not affected, there was a thin candidate, holding two halves of an inkstone in his hand, looking like he was about to cry.

A good inkstone is not cheap, and judging from his attire, he does not come from a wealthy family. He is holding two halves of the inkstone in his hand, which makes people feel heartbroken just looking at him.

Di Renjie was a good person. He first saluted Chen Qingsi and Zhou Simao, then bowed to the thin candidate and said, "My dear fellow, the situation is different. The case in the dormitory is barely above your knees. No matter how hard it hits the ground, the sound it makes will be heard." It is also a clear cracking sound, which is different from the cracking sound of applying force."

In the early years of the Tang Dynasty, there were only Mazha and no stools.

At this time, people mainly sit on their knees.

Since he is sitting on his knees, the utensil he usually uses for writing and reading is naturally a short desk.

The same goes for the examination room, with a short wooden board lying across the left and right sides of the examination room.

When running for your life in a panic, it is perfectly normal to step over a wooden plank and knock down the equipment on it.But if it is really so simple to break an instrument like an inkstone, there is only one explanation for it: quality issues.

Chen Qingsi was now confident and was not worried at all about not being able to catch anyone. She said in a leisurely manner: "Prepare an inkstone for this gentleman."

Zhou Simao responded somewhat speechlessly and said yes.

One person was quickly traced. Ruan Zhuo, a native of Jiachuan, Lizhou, was also one of the houses that was burned by the fire. He was currently under the supervision of officers and soldiers.

Chen Qingsi looked at him and said, "Where is your inkstone?"

Ruan Zhuo panicked and said: "I, the student, don't know, I really don't know..."

Chen Qingsi looked at Ruan Zhuo with a sullen face and said, "The fire won't burn it down, right? Or did someone take advantage of the chaos and steal your inkstone?"

"I really don't know..." Ruan Zhuo was so frightened that he almost cried.

Chen Qingsi said: "Look, since it was broken into pieces, there must be fragments."

The surrounding soldiers paid attention to their steps.

A broken piece of hard material was soon found.

Chen Qingsi reached out and took it. It was a dark, flat piece of stone. It was impossible to tell that it was an inkstone.

This kind of thing cannot appear in the examination room.

Chen Qingsi personally inspected the four examination rooms before the exam started. There were no leaves in the examination rooms. How could such sharp stone flakes appear? His heart moved, and he put it to the tip of his nose and smelled it. There was a pungent smell. It was oil. Stink.

In turn, I smelled it again. The smell of oil was a little less, it was still strong, but it was vaguely mixed with the fragrance of ink.

Chen Qingsi handed the stone piece to Di Renjie naturally.Di Renjie was slightly surprised, but took it with both hands, put it to the tip of his nose and sniffed it, with understanding in his eyes.

"The inside of the inkstone was hollowed out and filled with kerosene? That's a very thoughtful idea?"

Chen Qingsi's face was gloomy. If he hadn't been fully prepared, if someone hadn't been nervous and didn't sleep well, he would have discovered the fire immediately.

If it really spreads, many lives will be lost due to traffic jams, trampling, or being burned by fires while escaping. As a merit examiner, I cannot escape the blame.

Things got really big and Li Zhi couldn't protect himself.

A flash of panic flashed in Ruan Zhuo's eyes, but he still denied it.

Chen Qingsi looked at Di Renjie with a smile and said, "What do you want to say, Mr. Di?"

Di Renjie looked at Ruan Zhuo, then bowed and said, "To tell Mr. Chen if it's him, you can look at his hands and mouth. If you can smell a little oily smell, that's evidence."

Chen Qingsi asked: "How do you say this?"

Di Renjie said: "The husband's room is diagonally opposite the room of the husband who caught the fire. No matter how big the inkstone is, it can't hold much kerosene. Even if he had another way to hide the kerosene, the evidence would be destroyed in the fire. It is impossible to hide too much from such a rigorous inspection of the regulations. How could the gentleman accurately throw the kerosene into the stove from a distance of more than ten feet? The only way the student could think of was to dip the kerosene into the stove. Throw paper or cloth rolls into the copper furnace with your hands. Or use the barrel of a brush to blow into the copper furnace, causing a fire. No matter what method is used, the smell of kerosene will remain on your hands or mouth. In the examination room Drinking water is limited and not enough to wash away all the odor.”

Chen Qingsi winked at the guard next to Ruan Zhuo.

The guard immediately woke up, controlled Ruan Zhuo, and forced his hand open, revealing the evidence in the gaps between his fingernails.

Ruan Zhuo's face was ashen, and he suddenly collapsed to the ground, muttering: "How could this happen? How could this happen?"

The arrangement he received was to cause a fire, and then someone would naturally create chaos, stir up panic, and cause an accident.

He lit the fire as promised.

But before the fire started, someone accidentally noticed it.

He could only cooperate with the exclamations to create chaos and wait for others to make a fuss.

As a result, no one responded, but the guards were waiting to maintain order and control the situation.

He knew that once the fire was investigated, his inkstone would inevitably be hidden, so he smashed it in a hurry, thinking that it would be dark and chaotic, and the inkstone was black, so it would be difficult to be noticed at the scene of the fire. He would find an excuse tomorrow. Just say it was lost in a mess.

Who would have thought that a person would appear and reveal all his actions in just a few words.

Chen Qingsi didn't say much, just waved his hand and said: "Drag it down and hand it over to Dali Temple!"

He glanced at Di Renjie and told him to go back to his exam room and have a good rest.

Di Renjie bowed and left.

"There should be some free dormitories!"

Chen Qingsi looked at Zhou Simao.

"Yes!" Zhou Simao responded immediately. Some candidates were caught carrying various cheat sheets or cheating. Many of them were expelled from the examination room and were not even qualified to enter the examination room.

Chen Qingsi pointed at the four innocent people who suffered crimes: "Arrange them!"

Zhou Simao was still a little unresponsive, but he instinctively obeyed the order and let the deputy proctor Su Zhong make arrangements.

After a long while, Zhou Simao said in shock: "Is this... the matter resolved?"

Chen Qingsi felt comfortable and said, "What else?"

Do you really think that Di Gong, who cleared the backlog of cases involving 7000 people in Dali Temple in one year, is living in vain?
(End of this chapter)