Do you know that it starts with Meng Tong?

The reason is very simple. The frequency of a certain place is too high, so high that it is abnormal, and people have to have some terrible associations.

"Yuzhou Mi County, Yuzhou Xinzheng County, and Yuzhou Mi County... If I remember correctly, this is already the No. 16 Yuzhou candidate who passed the exam, right?"

"Kaifeng Prefecture is an important place in the capital, where the essence of the Great Zhou Dynasty is located. Not only does it have a population of more than one million, but there are also many celebrities and scholars gathered there. Even so, only 21 people were selected. Yuzhou is a small place, and culture and education have never been prosperous. Where did so many talents come from?”

"And this Guo Jin, whom I have never heard of before, actually defeated thousands of talented people from nine prefectures and four states to win the title of Xie Yuan?"

"What a queer thing!"

"Could it be that... the questions were leaked before the exam?"

The examiners below became more and more frightened as they listened. They couldn't help but look at each other, and then they all looked at Yang Yuanzhen, the chief examiner of the provincial examination who was sitting at the top.

Yang Yuanzhen was already trembling with fear at this time, and the hairs all over his body stood on end. Yun Danfengqing, who had previously responded to the emergency in the examination room, had already left Jiuxiaoyunwai.

Imperial examination fraud!

In any dynasty or generation, it would be a shocking news that would attract worldwide attention, and it would have to be reviewed by the minister of Dali Temple, the Minister of Criminal Affairs, and the censor of the Metropolitan Procuratorate.

If he is found guilty of leaking questions in scientific examinations, even if there is no precedent for killing scholar-bureaucrats in this dynasty, I am afraid that Yang Yuanzhen's official career will be over, and he will never have a chance to turn around again.

Boundless fear suddenly overwhelmed Yang Yuanzhen's heart. Suddenly, his vision went dark and he fainted on the spot.

Chapter 242

"The Imperial City Secretary is on an errand, please keep everyone out of the way!"

Late at night in Bianjing City, there was a rapid sound of horse hooves on Nanxunmen Street, and a group of knights in costume suddenly appeared in everyone's sight.

Under the cold moonlight, the cold light reflected from the weapons on the waists of this group of men could be vaguely seen.

The curfew in Bianjing is very short, almost non-existent. Although it is not the Lantern Festival, the streets are still bustling and lively.

Seeing a group of knights running towards them with great momentum, all the pedestrians on the street hurriedly avoided the situation, causing panic in Nanxunmen Street for a while.

The officer on duty at the street entrance saw clearly the token held by the person in front of him. He couldn't help but feel shocked and quickly ordered his men to remove the fence blocking the road.

Then, he watched blankly as the group of knights roared past him on horseback.

"Boss, what errands is the Imperial City Secretary doing in the middle of the night?"

"Don't talk too much if you don't want to die!"

The squad leader glared at his subordinates fiercely, and then directed the rest of them to thoroughly clear up the truth, otherwise those men would have to come back again.

During the Qin Dynasty, there was the "Black Ice Platform", during the Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty, there was the "Embroidered Clothes", Cao Cao of the Three Kingdoms established the "School Affairs", and during the Tang Dynasty, there was also the "Lijing Gate".

These are supervisory agencies that take orders directly from the emperor and play a role similar to that of the well-known secret service "Jinyiwei".

The Imperial City Division was the "Jinyiwei" of the Great Zhou Dynasty. In addition to being responsible for the security of the Imperial City, the most important responsibility was to spy on all kinds of intelligence and supervise all civil and military officials.

In the Great Zhou Dynasty, although the Imperial City Division was not as powerful as Jinyiwei, it was still enough to make most people intimidated by it. Naturally, a small government official would not dare to touch the troubles of these people.

Not long after, the Dazhou Gongyuan in the south of Bianjing City welcomed a group of uninvited guests, dozens of riders from the Imperial City Division riding horses from Nanxunmen Street.

After the leader, Dutou Gu Wan, showed a handwriting, the closed door of Gongyuan slowly opened.

"Stay at the door. Don't let a fly out without my order."

Gu Wan ordered his men to guard the gate, and then, accompanied by several imperial soldiers, entered the Great Zhou Gongyuan and went straight to the court hall.

When he arrived at the Zigong Hall and saw a group of examiners waiting at the door, Gu Wan did not hesitate and said loudly: "Where is Yang Yuanzhen, the concubine of the left?"

After asking three times in a row, I heard a feeble answer: "I am here..."

Everyone was stunned. Yang Yuanzhen finally woke up and opened his eyes. He used all his strength to finally sit up with the help of his subordinate clerk. He looked at Gu Wan and others at the door with a confused look on his face.

Seeing this, Gu Wan couldn't help but frown slightly and said loudly: "His Majesty ordered Yang Yuanzhen to come to the palace immediately to see him! Master Yang, please come."

Yang Yuanzhen was shocked when he heard this, and looked at the deputy examiner and fellow examiners with wide eyes.

The deputy chief examiner had no choice but to explain: "President, this matter is so serious that I have to send someone to report it to Your Majesty. Since Your Majesty is still willing to summon the President to the palace for an audience, it shows that you still trust the President. I just want to find out the reason for this matter." . The CEO can take this opportunity to prove his innocence in front of His Majesty."

Yang Yuanzhen was silent for a long time after hearing this, and finally sighed: "Well, I have never done such fraud. Since I have a clear conscience, I will take this step."

What's the harm in suffering? "

After saying that, he bowed his hands to the examiners and followed Gu Wan and others out.

Gu Wan was also quite polite to Yang Yuanzhen. Not only did he not treat him like a criminal, but he also personally helped him onto the carriage, which made Yang Yuanzhen feel relieved.

Gu Wan brought a dozen of his men into the palace with Yang Yuanzhen, while the Imperial City Division team stayed behind, sealed off the entire Gongyuan, and interrogated the remaining dozen examiners one by one.

If the leaked question is indeed true, Yang Yuanzhen, as the examiner, is naturally the most suspicious, but other examiners are also suspicious.

No one can leave Gongyuan until the matter is investigated clearly.

……

The apse of Chongzheng Hall.

After paying homage, Yang Yuanzhen knelt at the foot of the steps and waited cautiously for Zhao Zhen to ask questions.

Zhao Zhen, who was sitting on the throne, yawned and rubbed his eyebrows again, with a listless look on his face. It was obvious that he had just been woken up from his sleep.

More than two years have passed, and now Zhao Zhen is increasingly showing his age, unable to get more than two hours of sleep a night.

Being disturbed from his dream for no reason, or such a major matter as fraud in the imperial examination, it is conceivable that Zhao Zhen must be very irritable in his heart.

However, Zhao Zhen never expresses his anger on others. After drinking half a bowl of ginseng soup to cheer up, and listening to the reports from the people below, the more he thought about it, the more he felt that something was fishy.

Therefore, he did not throw Yang Yuanzhen into prison in anger, but ordered the Imperial City Secretary to open the palace and bring Yang Yuanzhen into the palace for questioning.

Zhao Zhen stared at the Henan Provincial Examination Yellow List in his hand, tapped his finger on the table, and frowned more and more.

"Sixteen of the 120 new imperial examination candidates are from Yuzhou. Even No. 1 Jieyuan is actually from Yuzhou. Yang Qing's family, as the chief examiner of the provincial examination, don't you have anything to explain to me? "

"Reply to Your Majesty, I am wronged!"

Yang Yuanzhen quickly took a few steps forward on his knees, kowtowed and said bitterly: "I am honored by your majesty to recruit scholars for the country. I have always been cautious and cautious, walking on thin ice, and I dare not make the slightest mistake.

These 120 candidates for the new imperial examination were not decided by one of the ministers alone, but came from the consensus of all the examiners.If your Majesty doesn't believe it, you can summon the other examiners and ask them. "

Zhao Zhen looked at the old chamberlain who was in charge of all matters in the Imperial City Department and saw that he nodded silently, knowing that what Yang Yuanzhen said was true.

Since there is no problem in the marking process, could it be that someone leaked the questions in advance?

But before Qiu Wei, even Yang Yuanzhen himself did not know that he would become the examiner of the provincial examination. It was not until seven days before the examination that Zhao Zhen suddenly made the appointment.

After that, Yang Yuanzhen was not even allowed to return home. He was sent directly from the Hanlin Academy to the courtyard of Zhuzi, with people from the Imperial City Division strictly guarding him along the way.

With such a strict confidentiality system, it stands to reason that Yang Yuanzhen should have no chance of leaking the information. What exactly is the flaw?

Zhao Zhen looked at Yang Yuanzhen who was kneeling at the foot of the stairs in fear and couldn't help but fell into deep thought.

At this moment, Gu Wan, the head of the Imperial City Sidu, hurried outside the palace. When the old chamberlain saw Gu Wan, he immediately cast an inquiring look at Zhao Zhen. When Zhao Zhen nodded, he went out of the palace to talk to Gu Wan in a low voice. got up.

Not long after, the old chamberlain returned to Zhao Zhen carrying a wooden box, whispered a few words to Zhao Zhen, opened the wooden box, and placed the contents on the royal eucalyptus.

Yang Yuanzhen lowered his head and lay on the ground, not daring to breathe, but he still couldn't help but secretly glance at the royal eucalyptus.

Seems like a book?

Yang Yuanzhen's heart tightened for no reason.

At this time, Zhao Zhen had already opened the thick book on the table, followed the old chamberlain's instructions, turned to a certain page, and then compared it with the first question of the provincial examination beside it.

After a while, Zhao Zhen's face suddenly changed color. He slapped the book hard on the royal eucalyptus. Still feeling uneasy, he picked it up and threw it down the steps, throwing it at Yang Yuanzhen's feet.

"You Yang Yuanzhen, how dare you lie in front of me! This was found from Guo Jin's residence, and the test questions you asked are clearly written in it!"

Chapter 243

The emperor was angry, and the blood flowed.

Although Zhao Zhen always showed kindness to others, Prince Jun was a king after all. Once he suddenly burst into thunderous anger, his majestic power would still frighten Yang Yuanzhen to the point where he could not hold his head up.

Yang Yuanzhen turned around tremblingly and picked up the book that fell at his feet, his hands still trembling uncontrollably.

The cover of the book feels rough like low-quality paper, and the pages are not neatly cut and even a little prickly.

Before seeing the true content of the book, Yang Yuanzhen, who had read countless books, had already made an instinctive judgment based on the feel of the book.

This book should have been printed by some big bookstore, but it seemed like a manuscript bound by poor scholars themselves.

Facts also prove Yang Yuanzhen’s judgment.

When Yang Yuanzhen reluctantly calmed down and took the book in front of him to look at it carefully, he could tell at a glance that the three words "Tanwenlu" in the middle of the cover were definitely not printed, but written by someone himself.

Zhao Zhen scolded him before contacting him, and he thought that the person who wrote this book should be Xin Ke Jieyuan Guo Jin who he personally picked up.

Yang Yuanzhen carefully opened the "Tan Wen Lu" with anxiety. After reading the first few pages, he quickly realized that this was an imperial examination teaching aid.

The author's knowledge of classics and meanings is extremely profound. Yang Yuanzhen just read a few short paragraphs and found it quite rewarding.

But right now, Yang Yuanzhen was on fire. No matter how good the book was, he had no intention of reading it carefully. He just hurriedly searched for the key point that made Zhao Zhen furious.

However, this "Tan Wen Lu" is a tome with a lot of content. The content of the four parts before and after it is added up to hundreds of pages.

Yang Yuanzhen flipped aimlessly for a while, but still couldn't find the key. He became more and more anxious, big beads of sweat fell from his forehead, and there were even bloodshot eyes.

Seeing Yang Yuanzhen's embarrassed look, Zhao Zhen couldn't stand it. He coughed lightly and waved his hand.

The old chamberlain, who had always been silent, bowed slightly, turned around and walked quickly to Yang Yuanzhen. He turned the book to a page in the second half of the book for him, and his finger fell on the middle of the page.

Yang Yuanzhen's eyes followed the old chamberlain's finger, and his heart suddenly trembled, and his back was covered in sweat.

"Mock test question 79: It is not good for a villain to live idle and do anything."

Isn't this the first major question of the Four Books that I have asked?

It's just that the second half of the sentence is missing: "When you see a gentleman, you are disgusted with it, you cover up his bad qualities and focus on his good qualities."

Although one paragraph is missing, the imperial examination focuses on answering questions in context. Therefore, as an examination question, there is no essential difference between more and less sentences.

At this moment, Yang Yuanzhen finally understood the reason for Zhao Zhen's sudden rage.

The Jinke Township Examination suddenly broke out in Yuzhou, and sixteen people were selected in one go. This is already an extremely unusual phenomenon.

Now, the Imperial City Division has found the original question that is almost exactly the same as the test question from Jieyuan, who is from Yuzhou.

This is so...

It’s hard not to suspect that something is fishy!