Do you know the long song of laughter?

Chapter 153 Calculation

Ji Zhenhai lowered his voice and said: "Many of these people are the children of wealthy businessmen in Yangzhou. I heard that they were able to enter the county school because Wu Xuezheng and the current Xu Xuezheng took the money. I also heard people say that Wu Xuezheng was quite restrained and only collected money. Arrange those people to enter the official school. Now Xu Xuezheng is very greedy for money. He not only arranges people to enter the official school, but also sells county examination places."

"Is there such a thing?" Li An was a little surprised when he heard this.

"Really, this matter is not a secret in Yangzhou. Many people have actually guessed it. Only fifty people are admitted to the county examination, and the number of people who can make it to the list is about a hundred. These people are all well-known to everyone." Fu Yanyan said.

Li An nodded. This is somewhat similar to the college entrance examination in later generations. How many people from a school can pass the exam can actually be estimated from the final mock exam.

Of course, estimates are just estimates and may be more or less.

After all, exams also depend on on-the-spot performance. Some people usually score low in mock exams, but perform exceptionally well in the college entrance examination.

There are also people who did well in the mock exam but performed poorly in the college entrance examination.

Otherwise, according to what they said, the people who passed the exam are basically among the hundred people, so there is no need for other people to participate. Just let the hundred or so people take the exam.

But after all, there are only a few people who can perform exceptionally. If there are many people who are not among the 100 people in the list this time, there will be a problem.

This is also the reason why scholars suspected that there was fraud in the county examination and caused trouble.

"Brother Fu and I are lucky. Our chances of passing the exam are not very good. The reason why we participated is to try our luck. But Brother Lu is really frustrated. With Brother Lu's talent and learning, he had a chance to pass the exam last year." , and ended up failing twice in a row." Ji Zhenhai said angrily.

Li An just nodded and said nothing.

A trace of sadness flashed in Lu Mingde's eyes, and he said: "Okay, there are many people here with mixed opinions. It's not good to spread the word, so stop talking."

Li An noticed the gloomy look in Lu Mingde's eyes and didn't think much about it at first. When he heard him stop Ji Zhenhai and the others from continuing, he felt something was wrong.

Lu Mingde and the other three failed, so it is normal for them to say some aggrieved words.

It is even normal for them to join those who go to the Tongpan Yamen to plead grievances.

But Lu Mingde didn't stop him at first. After everything he needed to say, he stopped him.

But when Ji Zhenhai and the others were talking just now, Lu Mingde didn't say a word, but kept his eyes on him.

Soon Li An thought of a possibility that they were telling these things to themselves on purpose.

Why do you do that?

In fact, the reason for this is easy to understand.

They wanted to let his teacher know about it through their own mouth.

Liu Xuewen was a public official and once served as an academic administrator in Yangzhou. He also had a bad relationship with Xu Shigao.

If Liu Xuewen knew about this, whether it was emotionally or for revenge against Xu Shigao, he would report the matter.

In this way, you can reach heaven directly.

Even if they don't retake the exam in the end, those who bribed Xu Shigao will be removed, and they will have a chance to be on the list.

Based on Li An's understanding of his teacher Liu Xuewen, he actually didn't take Xu Shigao seriously, and there was no so-called hatred at all.

But Liu Xuewen is an upright person. If he knew about it, he would definitely impeach Xu Shigao.

However, Li An had no intention of taking care of this matter.

First of all, he is the leader of the case and can be regarded as a vested interest.

The students outside are making a fuss not because they didn't make the list. If they had made the list, they wouldn't make a fuss.

Secondly, fraud in imperial examinations has existed since ancient times. All dynasties in history have improved the anti-cheating system in imperial examinations.

Li An believes that this kind of thing cannot only happen in Yangzhou.

Once Liu Xuewen files an impeachment report, the officials will definitely pay attention to the matter and send people to Yangzhou for a thorough investigation. If students from other places feel that there is fraud there, won't they also start a riot?

In this way, Liu Xuewen will definitely offend many people.

If not, Li An wouldn't mind telling the teacher.

"You three, I have something else to do, so I'll take my leave first." Li An stood up and said.

"Zi Qian, why don't you sit down for a while? You haven't even taken a bite of the food." Lu Mingde was stunned and quickly stood up to persuade him to stay.

"No, I still have something to do at home. Let's go first." After Li An finished speaking, he took Shi Zhu away directly.

Li An felt a little unhappy about how many people were plotting against him.

From their point of view, there is nothing wrong with wanting to expose this matter when they have been treated unfairly.

But they never thought about the consequences if Liu Xuewen went to court to impeach him.

Ji Zhenhai watched Li An leave and said, "Brother Lu, has he noticed it?"

Li An's guess was correct, they did tell it to Li An on purpose.

After the results were released, many students felt that there was fraud in the county examination and started to stir up trouble.

Ji Zhenhai and Fu Yanyan also asked Lu Mingde to follow those students to the Tongpan Yamen to petition.

Lu Mingde was confused because of his failure, and it took him a long time to come back to his senses.

When he came to his senses, he realized that he had followed the students to the outside of the Tongpan Yamen.

Lu Mingde knew that there was actually no use in making such a fuss. This kind of thing would be a scandal to the entire officialdom of Yangzhou. Even if there was indeed fraud, it would be suppressed.

Unless the officials know about this, there is no point in making a fuss. After all, they don't have any evidence.

Lu Mingde had an idea and thought of Li An.

So he pulled Ji Zhenhai and Fu Yanyan away from the crowd, found a restaurant, and told them what he thought.

Lu Mingde's idea made the two people's eyes brighten. The three of them were discussing how to get Li An to help, but they didn't expect Li An to come.

Lu Mingde thought this was a God-given opportunity and asked the two of them to tell the story about the county examination fraud in front of Li An, so he ran to invite Li An.

"Maybe, I have talked to Ziqian several times and he is not easy to fool. This time I was too impatient and should have told him frankly." Lu Mingde sighed.

"Brother Lu, how about we apologize to him and then ask him for help?" Fu Yanyan suggested.

"Wait for two days, he is angry now, it is not a good time." Lu Mingde said.

The three of them chatted for a while, but were no longer interested in drinking, so they just paid and left.

When I came out of the restaurant, I saw that the crowd surrounding Tongsuan Yamen had dispersed.

After asking someone about it, I learned that just now Zhizhou personally came out to assure the students that he would thoroughly investigate the matter and give everyone an explanation and let them go back first.

"Brother Lu, maybe we don't need to ask Li An for help." Ji Zhenhai said.

"Brother Ji, you think of things too simply. As the saying goes, once you fail again, you will be exhausted again and again, and you are not enough. Now the students are rioting because they are angry. After a few days, Master Zhizhou will say that there is no problem after a thorough investigation. , do you think anyone will still make trouble?" Lu Mingde sighed.

Now he is more determined to ask Li An for help.

Yangzhou officials can't be counted on to protect each other.

(End of this chapter)