Red Mansion: Fuyao River and Mountain

Chapter 105: Privacy Revealed in the Car

Emperor Jiazhao sighed slightly to calm his agitated emotions, and opened the second secret letter presented by the Imperial Chariot Department.

This secret letter recorded the details of dozens of students going to the Ministry of Rites to report the top scorer of the imperial examination.

However, Emperor Jia Zhao only glanced over these contents roughly, and his attention was focused on the appendix part of the main record.

It was filled with people's names, and behind each name was their origin, place of origin, family relationships, and some other important information.

Many places were even marked with red lines. If the doctor from the Ministry of Rites had seen these things that day, he would have been shocked.

Because the names on the secret letter were exactly the same as the list of students who had reported to the government and registered by the Ministry of Rites that day.

The root cause of this, of course, is that the Zhongchesi also has spies in the Ministry of Rites, and every move cannot escape their eyes.

Several of these names have been marked by the scouts of the China Railway Company and should be people with close ties. One of them is Liu Wenxuan, whose hometown information shows that he was a student of Deqing Prefecture.

Emperor Jia Zhao carefully read the information in the appendix, his face gradually became gloomy, and suddenly he waved his sleeves and knocked the candlestick on the imperial desk to the ground, shouting: "He has the heart to be killed!"

Guo Lin, who was standing aside, shuddered. Seeing the secret letter spread out in front of the emperor, he probably understood why the emperor was angry.

Because he was in charge of the Central Vehicle Department, he had also read these secret letters. Liu Wenxuan, who was mentioned in them, came from a poor family. Although he was talented and educated, he even had difficulty in food and clothing.

Later, he was sponsored by the Zhang family, a prominent family in Deqing Prefecture, and he had the money to travel to the capital to study. He met a good teacher, made great progress in his studies, and then passed two tests and entered the Yongzhou Academy examination.

A big family like the Zhang family of Deqing Prefecture, if there are no outstanding scholars among the younger generation of the family, will sponsor talented children from poor families.

They would either take them in as students or marry them into the family. Once these poor students passed the imperial examinations, the sponsoring families would naturally have an additional layer of connections in official circles. This was also a common practice among the aristocratic families.

Therefore, Liu Wenxuan, who spoke righteously in front of the Ministry of Rites, had a close relationship with the Zhang family, a prominent family in Deqing Prefecture. The Zhang family was actually his benefactor.

And Wang Ziteng’s wife is the eldest daughter of the Zhang family in Deqing Prefecture!
This student named Liu Wenxuan had been selected as a scholar in this academy examination. He was also the leader of the group that filed a lawsuit against Jia Cong, the chief suspect in the case.

That is to say, Wang Ziteng, the first-rank governor of the Beijing camp, has a vague connection with the incident of the students taking the imperial examination reporting the top scorer.

Wang Ziteng's wife and son had just had a conflict with Jia Cong in the Jia Mansion because they humiliated Jia Cong's biological mother.

Is all this just a coincidence?

It is hard to believe that the Wang family had no role behind this incident.

Emperors throughout history have always feared the most that military generals would harbor ulterior motives and corrupt government officials.

The imperial examination is a major national policy. If this matter is really related to Wang Ziteng, then he is too bold.

A military general actually dared to stir up public opinion, collude with the Censorate, and interfere with the selection of the top scorer in a state imperial examination.

This was a major taboo for an emperor, and no wonder Emperor Jiazhao would say such damnable words.

However, at present, everything is just superficial and there is no actual evidence. However, the seeds of his suspicion towards the governor of the Beijing camp have already been planted.

If we want to get evidence, it is also very easy. Liu Wenxuan is just a weak scholar. There is nothing he can't confess under Sanmu of the Magistrate's Court.

However, Emperor Jiazhao was a man of deep scheming. Without complete certainty and necessity, he would not easily touch the Jiedushi of the Capital Camp, who was in charge of the garrison of the capital.

Besides, Emperor Jiazhao did not intend to use such an incident to overthrow Wang Ziteng.

He would feel more at ease if he had a governor of the Beijing camp who lacked aristocratic family background rather than those veteran military heroes sitting in this position.

As to whether Wang Ziteng was the mastermind behind the murder of Jia Cong, the new chief judge, out of personal grudge, it was not the most important matter for an emperor who controlled the country.

For Emperor Jiazhao, reporting the incident of dismissing the chief examiner from the Imperial Examination was an excellent opportunity.

The unique background of Jia Cong, the first suspect in the case, allowed Emperor Jia Zhao to push this matter towards the result he most wanted.

However, he felt a little more sympathy for Jia Cong, the first suspect in the case. Most likely, Jia Cong's current misfortune was caused by his protection of his biological mother, but this point was very much to the liking of Emperor Jia Zhao.

……

This time, the Imperial Chariot Division also presented a third secret letter, but this one was not ordered by Emperor Jiazhao in advance. Instead, it recorded the secret matters of the Censor Chen Minyan.

Emperor Jia Zhao took a look at the secret letter and knew that it was Guo Lin, the old man, who dared to guess the emperor's intentions and took out the relevant secret letter from the Central Vehicle Department when he saw that he had transferred Chen Minyan's file from the Ministry of Personnel. He glared at Guo Lin fiercely and said, "Next time if you dare to make false assumptions and do private things, I will break your dog legs!"

Guo Lin was so frightened that he fell to his knees and said, "Your Majesty, please forgive me. I dare not try to guess your mind.

But when I saw that the emperor was looking for Chen Minyan's files from the Ministry of Personnel, I went to look through the old files of the Ministry of Vehicles and found that they were of some use, so I submitted them together. I will never dare to do it again next time."

"Humph!"

Emperor Jia Zhao read the third secret letter and asked sternly, "Is everything recorded here true?"

Guo Lin replied tremblingly: "Your Majesty, what is recorded here is all true, and it is not private. You can find out by asking someone."

Emperor Jia Zhao threw the secret letter in his hand onto the table with a tired look, and sneered: "What a demon! The human mind is unpredictable!"

This secret letter records that Chen Minyan was originally the prosecutor of Dezhou Prefecture. He was promoted to the position of Supervisory Censor of Yongzhou Province because he was valued by the Deputy Censor-in-Chief Liu Yuqing.

This person regards Liu Yuqing as his benefactor and always follows Liu Yuqing's lead.

There was also a line of notes written in beautiful and vigorous handwriting in this secret note: Liu Yuqing's wife, Ms. Dong, and Beijing Camp Jiedushi Wang Ziteng's wife, Ms. Zhang, were cousins ​​and had always been in contact with each other.

The person who sorted out these secret letters at CRRC was very capable. After knowing the purpose of Guo Lin's search for the secret letters, he marked the key parts of the letters and even found the connections to verify each other.

Otherwise, Emperor Jia Zhao would not have noticed the clues so quickly.

Although all this may be coincidence and not conclusive evidence, are there really so many coincidences in the world?

Emperor Jiazhao's face was so gloomy that it seemed like water could drip out of it. Behind the dismissal of the top candidate of the imperial examination, these seemingly intertwined mysteries seemed to become clear all of a sudden.

"You have some important people in your car company. These secret documents are very carefully prepared."

Guo Lin had just been scolded by Emperor Jiazhao and was still a little frightened. But when he heard the emperor suddenly praise him, he finally felt half relieved.

"Thank you for your praise, Your Majesty. I serve you every day. There are many things in the Imperial Chariot Division that I cannot do myself, so I am very careful to recruit talents every day."

"The Imperial Chariot Division is my eyes and ears. If you do your job well, I will not treat you unfairly."

"I will obey your order and do my best to live up to your trust."

"You must pass on my order and have Guo Youchang, the Left Vice Minister of the Ministry of Rites, come to the palace to make his statement."

……

In the Rongguo Mansion, Liu Jing'an and Jia Cong performed the master-disciple ceremony, then said goodbye and returned to Luocang Mountain.

Jia Zheng would prepare a decent gift of six gifts for Jia Cong, choose an auspicious day, and have Jia Cong deliver it to Luocang Mountain.

Zhao Chongli went to visit his friend, and Liu Jing'an got on the old servant's carriage.

As the old servant drove away, he looked back and saw Jia Zheng and Jia Cong still standing at the main gate watching them leave.

The carriage took more than half an hour to return to Liu Jing'an's residence in Luocang Mountain.

"Old Song, you have been accompanying Bi'er to serve as an official in the south for the past two years. Is everything going well for him there?"

Two years ago, on the eve of Jia Cong entering Qingshan Academy, Liu Bi ranked 37th in the second class of the palace examination in the tenth year of Jiazhao, and was selected to serve as the county magistrate of Gaochun County south of Jinling.

Old Song is a servant who has been with Liu Jing'an since he was a child. He has been with him for half his life and is the person Liu Jing'an trusts the most.

Back then, he was worried about his grandson going to the south to serve as an official alone, so he allowed this trusted old servant to go with him.

"The young master is doing very well over there, he is an honest and capable official, and everyone in the county government praises him.

It’s just that my old arms and legs are weak and I can’t stand the humidity in the south. I’ve had rheumatism in the past two years, and the young master was afraid that my condition would get worse, so he urged me to come back.”

Liu Jing'an said with a smile, "You are already past the age of knowing your destiny. Your body is not as good as that of a young man. You need to take good care of yourself. You have been a northerner since childhood. Living in the south for a long time is not a long-term solution."

Old Song looked around and whispered, "Master, when I went to the south, I didn't see this Young Master Cong. When I saw him today, I was really shocked. He really looks like that man!"

(End of this chapter)