Empress Jinghua: The eunuch is nine thousand years old

Chapter 92

I saw only a few words on the yellow and white rice paper.

"Keep in mind your kindness, dare not forget each other, entrust with tourmaline, and get it back on the day when the gold and silver are paid off."

Xia Zijin stared at that line of handwriting, and couldn't help but smile and said: "Zhuangyuan Lang really has enough backbone."

It's just this tourmaline jade...

She put it in the palm of her hand and looked at it carefully for a while. The texture of tourmaline jade is emerald green and translucent, and the tentacles are very moist.

Xia Zijin brought the tourmaline closer to her eyes, looked up and down, but inadvertently found an interesting notch on the bottom of the tourmaline.

"Fang..."

Xia Zijin stroked the notch, thinking in his heart.If the word Fang is disassembled, isn't it the word Ark?
She had already suspected that the mother and son's backgrounds might not be simple, but now she has strengthened her mind, who are Fang Zhou's mother and son, why are they so poor, why are they pregnant with tourmaline, and Fang Zhou's ambiguous attitude. The twists and turns are really incomprehensible.

"Little Huanzi, go and check this ark with Princess Ben. It should be more thorough." Xia Zijin rubbed the tourmaline and added, "Also, ask if there are any nobles and ministers in the court. The surname is Fang."

Xiao Huanzi understood Xia Zijin's meaning in an instant, bowed in response, and exited the inner hall.

In March of Yangchun, the ceremony and music on the Jinluan Hall are played, and the bells and drums beep three times to welcome the new Ke Sanlang to the hall.

A long red carpet was laid on the jade-carved marble steps, extending all the way to the front of the main hall. Three young men covered in official robes walked to the center of the hall gracefully, threw off their front robes and knelt loudly.

"Chen Fangzhou, pay homage to the emperor!"

"Minister Li Baizu, pay homage to the emperor!"

"Sir Huang Qiudong, pay homage to the emperor!"

I saw that the three of them were all in their early twenties with weak crowns, wearing black gauze on their heads, and gold thread robes embroidered with peacocks, with different cut jade inlaid on their waists, the number one scholar was inlaid with mutton fat jade, the second place was inlaid with Hetian jade, And Tanhua only has agate jade.

As the saying goes, people rely on clothes and horses rely on saddles. Wearing this ocher official shirt, Fang Zhou is several times more handsome than when he was in the slums in the southern suburbs. A bit refined and extravagant.

"The three of you are all one-in-a-million talents this year. Jinlai is in its prime, and what it needs is fresh blood like you. Once you enter the court as an official, you must know the rules of the court. From now on, you must strictly discipline yourself and keep yourself in mind. Dao, you should take it as your duty to assist me and bring happiness to the people, don’t corrupt the law, don’t form cliques for personal gain, don’t have double-mindedness, can you three write it down?”

Ming Shengdi's resounding voice resounded above the main hall and spread into the hearts of the three people. Most of the veterans remained silent. This kind of admonition by new officials was repeated every year, but it is unknown how many people did it in the end.

"I will follow the emperor's will, keep in mind the way of being an official, set an example of loyalty, benevolence and filial piety, and discipline myself and others!" Fang Zhou raised his hands above his head, his face was full of firmness, and his sharp-edged outline was like a green bank of mountains.

The other two also expressed their opinions one after another. The new official has a unique vigor and courage, which is beyond the reach of the veteran officials who have been in officialdom for a long time.

Ming Shengdi nodded in satisfaction, looked at Fang Zhou, the number one scholar among the three, and squinted his eyes. Among the three, only Fang Zhou's literary talent satisfied him the most, whether it was in terms of conception or thought, or organization and implication, They are all first-class and first-class, and this champion is well-deserved.

At this time, there was one man among the hundred officials, his hands were hidden in his sleeves and trembled slightly, his old eyes flickered for a moment, and he crossed the crowd to meet the gaze of the eldest son of the emperor, Xia Bin, he moved slightly, and moved in front of him. Kneeling in the center of the hall under the eyes of everyone.

"Your Majesty! My minister has something to announce!"

Ming Shengdi was in a good mood, so he also raised his hand and said, "Please speak, Zhou Aiqing."

Zhou Wenrui Zhan Weiwei, the judge of the Imperial Academy, took out a memorial from his arms, leaned over to present it, and Xia Shengqing took the memorial, handed it over to Ming Shengdi.

Ming Shengdi smiled and turned over the crow-blue melody gilded in four directions, and looked at the words on it word by word. When he saw it clearly, his smiling face instantly changed into anger and gloom, like a man in the wilderness. In an instant, dense clouds covered the area, thundering into thunder, and a torrential downpour came crashing down.

Xia Zijin rubbed her ears, and was holding a bowl of white fungus and lotus seed soup, drinking it with relish. Outside the window, thunder was rumbling, and the bean-sized raindrops hit the ground, and on the bricks and bluestones, flowers bloomed. a water flower.

"Not good! Not good!"

Xiao Huanzi squeezed into the room in a panic, and knelt down in front of the leisurely Xia Zijin with a look of anxiety on his face.

"Princess, something serious happened!"

Xia Shengqing put down the soup bowl, half puzzled and half surprised, and hurriedly said, "But the previous dynasty?"

Today is the day for the No. [-] Scholar and the appointment of flowers and officials. Standing at such an early hour, it is just when the morning court has just ended.

Xiao Huanzi swallowed a mouthful of saliva and said: "In the early court, the emperor was giving lectures to the three new adults. Suddenly, Lord Zhou of the Imperial Academy handed the emperor a memorial. Order the second place Li Baizu to be dismissed and inspected, and..."

"What else!" Xia Zijin was already puzzled when he heard this, what was the reason that could make Ming Shengdi so angry?

"And..." Xiao Huanzi took a peek at Xia Zijin's character, as if he was going all out, he lowered his head and said in a muffled voice, "I also locked up Manager Xia..."

There was a rumble in Xia Zijin's head like the muffled thunder outside the window, full of disbelief.

"how so!"

It seemed to reflect the moody weather in spring, and even people became moody. The new officials who were supposed to be happy took office, but how did they become like this in an instant.

"My servant heard that in the memorandum played by Mr. Zhou, it was written that the last palace examination of this year's imperial examination seemed to be leaked. That Li Baizu is the nephew of Mr. Li, Minister of the Ministry of household affairs, who lives in the middle of Sichuan all the year round. , is a really stubborn student. It is said that Li Baizu's literary talent is extremely mediocre, but this time he won the position of Tanhua, obviously he knew the topic of the palace examination in advance, asked someone to write it for him, and then wrote it silently in the hall."

Xiao Huanzi clenched his sleeves and frowned tightly, as if he was shocked by this matter.

"The emperor was furious after reading the memorial, and asked Li Baizu to recite the article written by him on the spot. How could he know that Li Baizu hesitated for a long time, but he couldn't recite a sentence. He was so frightened on the spot that his legs limp and knelt on the ground. The emperor begged for mercy. The emperor knew that the report might be true, so he removed Li Baizu's position and put him in the sky prison, and asked Director Xia to also put him in."

Hearing this, Xia Zijin couldn't help but frown. Leaking the imperial examination questions is a death penalty for punishing the nine clans. Ming Shengdi locked Xia Shengqing, didn't he...

It’s over.

These two words popped out of Xia Zijin's head at this moment.

Over the years, the questions of the palace examination have been kept in secret, drafted by the emperor, and then handed over to the chief eunuch, who will release the questions at the beginning of the palace examination on the second day, and no one else can touch them.

In other words, Xia Shengqing was the only one who knew the questions of the imperial examination in advance.

"Did your majesty say how to deal with it?" Xia Zijin bit her lip, the uneasiness and worry in her heart had filled her heart, she believed that Xia Shengqing was definitely not such a person, since this happened, it showed that someone was deliberately planning to put him to death!

"The emperor has ordered the Minister of Dali Temple to take over the case, saying that he wants to find out the truth. There are no fewer than ten officials involved. People in the court are already in panic!"

Xia Zijin's lower lip trembled slightly. Such a big case is enough to cause turmoil in Shangjing and even Jinlai. The imperial examinations are all about fairness. If someone knows the test questions in advance, how can there be a word for fairness? I am afraid that all students in the world will be chilled .

This shows that if Xia Shengqing is convicted, Ming Shengdi will never let him off lightly. I am afraid that anyone involved in this case will die.

"No... we must save him!"

Xia Shengqing bit her lip and got up in a hurry, before she even had time to put on her cloak, she lifted her skirt and was about to rush out.

"Princess! It's raining heavily outside!"

Holding the oil-paper umbrella with a bamboo handle, Xiaokui hurriedly followed it. The crackling raindrops hit the umbrella surface, and finally slid down the umbrella tip and returned to the soil.

The torrential rain was still falling, and the dense water vapor permeated the air, converging upwards, carrying the moist earthy fragrance and methane gas, and directly penetrated into people's nostrils.

This rain seemed to wash away all the dirt hidden in the deep winter, and the water flowed continuously on the bricks and tiles, causing the rushing sound, which was annoying.

"Father! My son, please see me!"

Xia Zijin had been kneeling outside the Imperial Study Room for an hour, but Ming Shengdi refused to see her. It was obvious that he already knew her reason for coming, but he ignored it.

"Father, my son, please see me!"

Xia Zijin was still chanting this sentence repeatedly, her knees were so numb that she couldn't feel it, her hair was wet with moisture, but her face was still stubborn.

Across a palace door, Ming Shengdi heard Xia Zijin's voice clearly. He rubbed his heart. The table was full of impeachments and reprimands Xia Shengqing for leaking the imperial examination questions. Still in the process, the officials involved have already involved fifteen people.

"Your majesty... have you really not seen the princess?"

Xiao Xiazi was palming the ink on the side, grinding the thick and moist ink one by one, and couldn't help asking a lot.

Ming Shengdi looked up at him, his expression unchanged, and said coldly: "When will it be your turn to intervene in my affairs, is it possible that you want to deceive me like Xia Shengqing?"

"The slave dare not, the slave dare not..."

Xiao Xiazi twitched his mouth lightly with a smile, shut up and stopped talking, only sneaking a look at Ming Shengdi's expression while beating in his heart, Ming Shengdi is becoming more and more moody now, even himself The most trusted personal eunuch is also closed when he says so.

(End of this chapter)