King Luhuang of the Ming Dynasty: My father, Ming Taizu

Zhu Tan was now outside the capital and found that the air was really good, but the environment was relatively primitive. There were low mud houses and thatched houses on the roadside, and only occasionally could you see brick and tile houses.

Needless to say, that is the wealthy family in the countryside.

The onlookers I met were almost all like beggars, living worse than the lowest class of people in the capital.

Everyone looked pale and half-dressed. In the weather of February and March, most people wore thin and dirty clothes.

This was quite a shock to Zhu Tan. He had not expected that the real situation of the lower-class people in the Ming Dynasty was like this. It completely overturned his three views.

"Zhang Wei, give out more of the money for opening the way."

During the funeral process, a handful of copper coins are scattered from time to time. This is a bribe to the outside ghosts.

In later generations, people scattered paper money, but now they use real copper coins.

Zhang Wei immediately asked people to throw money out. The golden copper coins fell into the crowd, immediately attracting people to scramble for them.

If you can pick up dozens of big ones, you can have enough food to eat for three to five days!
“People’s lives are so difficult, are most people like this?”

Ma Cong and Wang Zengqi did not expect Zhu Tan to ask this question. They had seen such situations many times. After all, he was a "local" and all the peasants were like this!

"These are probably all landless refugees. In ancient times, they were called vagrants or rogues. They either sold their land or fled on their own, so their lives were quite difficult. They were very different from real farmers and tenants."

After all, Ma Cong had more experience in life at the bottom of society than Wang Zengqi, so he immediately explained it to Zhu Tan.

As a time traveler, Zhu Tan was quite shocked by the contrast between what he saw in later life and the scene before his eyes.

These people did not even have a normal identity, and did not have the basic rights granted by the Ming Dynasty. They were not even farmers and were collectively called vagrants and hooligans.

There is no need to cancel your account when you die, just roll into the ditch.

Nothing unexpected happened on the way to Wanping. Zhu Tan shook his head, feeling that he had carried dozens of cans of granular gunpowder improved by Zhu Houzhao in vain.

Could it be that Yang Hu, Qi Yanming and other bandits fled far away after they succeeded?
After arriving in Wanping, the local county magistrate and other officials were waiting outside to greet him, but Zhu Tan just wanted to finish the job quickly and did not go in.

Because Wanping was a county attached to Shuntian Prefecture at that time and did not even have a city, they directly let these people follow to the cemetery, which was where Zhang Luan, the father of the second Zhang uncle, was buried.

Wow, Zhu Tan finally saw what a luxurious cemetery is. This is probably the CBD of cemeteries.

Not only does it cover a large area, it is also luxuriously built. Since Zhang Luan had been dead only a few years ago, there is no sign of disrepair and it looks brand new.

The most eye-catching is undoubtedly the stele written by the Hanlin, an honor only given to Xu Da during the reign of Zhu Yuanzhang and Yao Guangxiao during the reign of Zhu Di.

Logically speaking, Zhang Luan, as the deceased father-in-law of the emperor, could not enjoy such treatment at all. It can only be said that Zhu Youtang was too good to the Zhang family.

Zhu Tan could tell at a glance that the tomb of his cheap dead father Zhang Luan was "illegally built" and exceeded the specifications. When he asked Ma Cong about it, Ma Cong immediately looked embarrassed.

Seeing that Zhu Tan was still waiting, Ma Cong licked his lips and told the truth:
"The cemetery of Duke Changguo is indeed oversized, and tens of thousands of people were forced to do labor service when the cemetery was built. However, Your Majesty exempted these people from taxes. This also led to people living near the capital pretending to be members of the mausoleum and temple, resulting in a shortage of households and an increasing number of refugees. The imperial envoy Peng Shao reported the matter, and now Peng Shao is the Minister of Justice..."

Zhu Tan's face suddenly turned ugly. It turned out that the miserable condition of the people he saw along the way was directly related to the Zhang family.

Moreover, the Minister of Justice whom I met yesterday had a very long face without any expression. This was the reason.

The "yin and yang master" sent by the Imperial Observatory found the right place, calculated the time, and began to bury the body.

Zhu Tan had completely lost interest and was just waiting to go back after everything was over.

A man in bright armor rode up on horseback and whispered something to Ma Cong.

Zhu Tan waved for the two to come over, "What's the matter?"

Ma Cong hurriedly introduced, "My Lord, this is Commander Xu Tai of the Imperial Guards. Commander Xu is in charge of this alert. Commander Xu said there is nothing unusual within a radius of fifteen miles."

Zhu Tan found the name Xu Tai familiar and immediately remembered this young man who looked less than eighteen years old. He seemed to be quite famous in Ming history and was even adopted as an adopted son by his nephew Zhu Houzhao.

As more information emerged in his mind, Zhu Tan's expression became much more serious.

Xu Tai's father and grandfather were both brave generals in the army and had made many military achievements. From the Battle of Tumu to the later rebellion led by Prince Ning, the three generations of grandparents and grandchildren had made great contributions and accomplished great deeds.

Moreover, Xu Tai, like the two Zhang uncles and the trusted civil and military relatives of Zhu Youtang and Zhu Houzhao, were eventually liquidated by Emperor Jiajing.

I don’t know whether Xu Tai died later, but if he didn’t, he must have died in a miserable state.

With this premise, Zhu Tan's impression of Xu Tai immediately improved a lot.

Upon inquiry, it was learned that Xu Tai's father Xu Ning had just passed away not long ago. Xu Tai inherited the position of commander of the Yulin vanguard and was also a military scholar.

His martial arts skills are beyond doubt, and any dozen people are no match for Xu Tai.

Zhu Tan was very interested in making friends with such people, so his attitude towards them was naturally very friendly.

Xu Tai did not expect that Marquis Jianchang would be so kind to him that he even asked about the military achievements of his father and grandfather, and talked about them with great pride.

Zhu Tan had no ability and could not interfere with the promotion of generals in the army. As the second-in-command of the Central Army Governor's Office, his main responsibility was to supervise gunpowder.

Moreover, nobles such as Zhang Mao would not let him interfere in these affairs, so they encouraged Xu Tai more and expressed their confidence in him. If there was a chance, they would say a few good words in front of the emperor, etc.

Just this alone made Xu Tai flattered.

Although Xu Tai can also be classified as a noble, there are some outliers among the nobles, and that is the people who really get things done.

For example, the Xu family was focused on fighting wars and seldom got involved in the intrigues of the nobles, so they were inevitably excluded.

In Xu Tai's opinion, if he could get along well with Marquis Jianchang, who is a favorite of His Majesty, it would definitely be of great benefit!
Zhu Tan had to come to bury Zhang Heling, but meeting Xu Tai was a pleasant surprise.

No matter what Xu Tai did with his nephew Zhu Houzhao later, his greatest advantage and strength was his ability to fight. His personal martial arts skills were extraordinary, and he could be used as a bodyguard.

After Zhang Heling was buried, it was already late.

Zhu Tan and his entourage were unable to return to the capital, so they had to stay overnight in Wanping County. The county magistrate was busy inside and outside the house, and made sure that Zhu Tan and his entourage were accommodated perfectly.

Nothing happened that night. After Zhu Tan returned to the capital, he was busy for a few more days before he finally finished taking care of Zhang Heling's funeral.

At this time, the Ministry of Rites had already held two spring examinations.

According to the rules of the imperial examination, there were three examinations, each lasting three days. With one more exam coming to an end, Zhu Tan's focus and attention shifted to the imperial examination. Just as he had anticipated, the atmosphere of this year's imperial examination was very wrong.

After two exams, a lot of rumors have been circulating.

The candidates taking the exam were a little agitated because the test questions were too unfamiliar and too difficult.

How difficult is it?
Among those who think they have answered the question correctly or have given a good answer, only one out of a hundred will succeed.

According to this situation, it is extremely rare for a candidate to feel that he can pass the imperial examination and become a Jinshi.

Amid the wailing of the candidates, there were a few who were more lively. The best and most representative among them were Xu Jing and Tang Bohu.

Firstly, they were instructed by Zhu Tan and Ma Wensheng to be so high-profile on purpose.

Secondly, he did really well in the exam. After the third exam, Xu Jing made bold statements to the distraught candidates around him, claiming that he had passed the exam.

Tang Bohu became even more arrogant and said bluntly that he would definitely win the top spot.

Isn't this hateful?

So it was a foregone conclusion that we would fail the exam, but you knew you would pass and even become the top scorer before the results were announced?

As the saying goes, jealousy can make a person unrecognizable, and this includes Tang Bohu's good friend and fellow imperial examination candidate Ren Mu.

Du Mu did well on the other questions, but his gibberish in answering the obscure question posed by Cheng Minzheng was an overestimate.

The depressed Du Mu was too lazy to talk to Tang Bohu and Xu Jing, and just walked towards the inn.

There were also several successful candidates who had failed the exam. It was unknown which candidate's servant had been waiting outside the Ministry of Rites when he suddenly brought back an unexpected and shocking piece of news.

Cheng Minzheng, the deputy examiner, actually held two test papers with their names covered. He affirmed that the writing was beautiful and the topics were appropriate, so they must be the test papers of Tang Bohu and Xu Jing.

As the saying goes, the speaker may not mean it, but the listener may take it seriously. The servant felt something was wrong and hurried back to tell his master the rumor.

The dozen or so candidates were immediately shocked.

Du Mu was burning with jealousy, and seeing that it was a foregone conclusion that Tang Bohu would pass the imperial examination, he could not help but clench his fists. Instead of going to the inn, he went to the home of Zhong Huachang, the official in charge of the Ministry of Households.

Du Mu and Hua Chang had a good relationship and had some connections before. Du Mu told Hua Chang all the things that the candidate had said, and finally said.

"Brother Shi, you can't say that I said these words. I regret it now. Forget it, let them do what they want. I will go back and continue to study hard and fight again in three years."

As a secretary, Hua Chang had the same problems as Ye Shen, but he was more exaggerated than Ye Shen.

Originally, he shouldn't comment on such a vague matter, but what Du Mu said was exactly what he wanted, because Shao Xi had talked to him about the imperial examination.

Hua Chang assured Du Mu that he would never say that he heard it from Du Mu, and then he asked his family to go to the inn where the scholar was staying to collect information.

As expected, the candidates were all saying that Cheng Minzheng had accepted generous gifts from Xu Jing and Tang Bohu and sold the examination questions to the two of them. Rumors were spreading among the people and the public was filled with anger.

That night, Hua Chang went to Shao Xi's residence again, and the Zhou brothers were there with him.

The next day, Hua Chang wrote a letter to impeach Cheng Minzheng for selling his writings to Tang Bohu and Xu Jing, which marked the beginning of the Hongzhi Spring Examination Case.

Originally, this impeachment memorial would have to go through several days according to the process, for example, it would have to go through the Ministry of Civil Affairs first and then be transferred to the Cabinet.

The cabinet will give its opinions and then send them to the Imperial Household Department. Whether the Imperial Household Department agrees with the cabinet's opinions will eventually be submitted to the emperor for review.

After this round, I guess the results of the imperial examination have been announced.

The strange thing is that Hua Chang's memorial was handled with special treatment. It was directly submitted to the Silijian without going through the Tongzhengsi or even the Cabinet.

Dai Yi, the eunuch in charge of writing in the Imperial Household Department, saw that this was a major event, so he put the rules aside and immediately presented it to Zhu Youtang.

Zhu Youtang was recognized as a good man and a good emperor. However, when he read Hua Chang's memorial, he became angry as he was already in a bad mood due to Zhang Heling's death. He angrily demanded a thorough investigation.

Zhu Youtang was well aware of the court's strict prevention of cheating in the imperial examinations. Even if someone smuggled in cheating or exchanged papers with others, the lightest punishment would be exile to a remote frontier.

If an official participated in cheating, he would be immediately demoted to a commoner, and his descendants for three generations would not be allowed to take the imperial examinations again.

The news was soon passed to the cabinet as an imperial edict. Zhu Youtang's specific measure was to immediately stop Cheng Minzheng from marking the papers and instead let the chief examiner Li Dongyang mark the papers personally, that is, to re-examine them and continue to circle the papers.

When this incident happened, Zhu Tan had just finished dealing with the trivial matters at hand, and the information collected by the Urban Management Brigade was clearer than anyone else.

After the message came back, Zhu Tan immediately realized that there were undercurrents and the mastermind behind the scenes began to move.

Since the chain of involvement had been cut off, Zhu Tan did not need to be shy and immediately went to see Ma Wensheng to pass on the first-hand information at hand. He also picked up Ye Shen on the way.

When Zhu Tan told Ma Wensheng and Ye Shen the news circulating on the street, their faces changed at the same time.

They then revealed the official news that the Imperial Clerk Zhong Huachang had formally impeached Cheng Minzheng for selling the exam questions, and Tang Bohu and Xu Jing were mentioned among them.

All of this was originally within the expectations of Zhu Tan and the others. The only unexpected thing was the speed.

The speed at which Hua Chang's impeachment of Cheng Minzheng reached the emperor's ears was abnormal, and it was obvious that someone was fanning the flames.

Furthermore, there were already hundreds of candidates on the streets organizing themselves and directing their attacks at Cheng Minzheng, Tang Bohu and Xu Jing, which again highlighted the word "fast".

It was obvious that they were planning to put Cheng Minzheng and others to death before the results were announced.

Ma Wensheng stroked his beard. Even though he knew that the mastermind was planning to drag him into the conspiracy, he couldn't help but praise him: "This is a brilliant move. The process of the imperial examination and the time of announcing the results are precisely controlled. His tactics are really sophisticated."

Ye Shen also said: "Hua Chang's memorial was not approved by the Tongzhengsi, which is obviously the same idea as ours. Regardless of whether this matter succeeds or not, Hua Chang's official career is over. Hua Chang himself must know that he is still an official fanatic and likes to seek fame and sell his integrity. The person behind him who can make him make such a sacrifice is definitely not simple."

Zhu Tan rolled his eyes and said, "You two, please stop being so cautious. This move has disrupted our plans and arrangements. Xu Jing and Tang Bohu are in big trouble! At least their chances of passing the exam are almost gone."

This was absolutely correct. Ma Wensheng and Ye Shen looked serious. They had both been in the officialdom for many years and knew that Zhu Tan was right.

This kind of news came out before the results were announced. In order to avoid suspicion, Li Dongyang, who was marking the papers later, would definitely discard the papers of Tang Bohu and Xu Jing.

Li Dongyang will be even more ruthless. Anyone who answers the questions asked by Cheng Minzheng will most likely be dismissed. (End of this chapter)