After going down to court, the sixth prince ordered to think behind closed doors due to lax supervision, the monthly salary was halved, and the servants were halved.
He Xiuwen, Li Hexu, and Ma Gaoge were all imprisoned.
These three people are not strong-willed people. Once they are served with sticks in the Punishment Department, they will all be recruited in less than a stick of incense.
The three population confessions all point to one place - Guifang Building.
The three people said that as long as they took refuge in the owner of Guifang Building, Tu Pingyun, and paid 3,000 taels of silver, they could get the exam questions.
If you want to go to high school, you can get an answer written by a professional expert by paying another 10,000 taels, and then you can memorize and answer the question directly.
The three of them were lying on the hand, their butts were beaten, and they cried while saying, "Sir, we didn't expect to be in the top three. We spent 13,000 taels of silver and we were killed."
Chao Tianhai rolled his eyes and led troops to surround Guifang Tower.
At this time, Tu Pingjun was eating on the second floor. Hearing the news, he brought his maid to the door and stood up proudly, "My lord, dare to ask why you surrounded me Guifanglou?"
"Are you the boss?" Chao Tianhai looked at Tu Pingyun from top to bottom, and said sharply, "Grab it."
Seeing that the soldier was about to take someone, Tu Pingjun shouted, "Hold on!"
She came to Chaotianhai, "Excuse me, sir, what crime did the little girl commit?"
"Reselling scientific exam questions is a death penalty."
Tu Pingyun's face turned pale, this matter is so secret, how could it be known
Looking at Tu Pingjun's shocked expression, Chao Tianhai knew the result. He shook his head, how could a young woman dare to commit such a heinous crime
Tu Pingjun was taken directly to the Ministry of Punishment and confronted Ma Gaoge.
This confrontation made Tu Pingyun sober, "Sir, I don't know these three people!"
Although the candidates she has attracted are all villains, she has passed the test herself in terms of knowledge, and it will not be bad.
She didn't remember these three people at all.
Chaotianhai shocked and scolded in a cold voice: "You said you didn't know these three people, but these three people are all exam questions and answers bought from you, Guifanglou, and even, these three people can say yes What month and day did you buy it, how dare you argue?"
"My lord, this is someone slandering me."
These three people, Tu Pingjun, didn't know each other, and the panicked mind was settled, she said calmly: "Sir, the little girl is an ordinary woman, the restaurant and inn are only for making money, why is it necessary to buy and sell test questions, and where did they come from? Such a confidential scientific examination question? These three people are clearly crawling and biting randomly, please investigate carefully."
"Miss Tu is modest." Lu Ze walked over leisurely, "Miss Tu is the concubine of Mr. Tu from the second rank, and has a close relationship with the sixth prince who is in charge of the imperial examination. To say that she is just an ordinary woman is really modest. ."
"His Royal Highness." As soon as Chao Tianhai saw the Chaotang God of Plague and the creditor coming, he immediately came down to greet him.
Lu Ze smiled lightly, "Don't be polite, Mr. Chao. I was hanging out nearby. I heard that Mr. Chao was reviewing the suspect of the imperial examination fraud case, so I came to see it. Don't be cautious."
"Yes." At this time, the yamen moved a chair and said respectfully to Tianhai: "His Royal Highness, please take a seat."
Lu Ze sat down rudely.
Tu Pingyun felt bad, "His Royal Highness, the sixth prince and I are just nodding acquaintances. How could the sixth prince tell a girl who is so secret about the imperial examination questions? Besides, these three people only have oral confessions and no physical evidence, so they can't be counted. "
"Exactly, I'm here to send evidence to Lord Chao."
Lu Ze snapped his fingers, "Bring it here."
A man came up with a tray respectfully.
Tu Pingjun was struck by lightning, "Li Jie?"
Li Jie knelt down and handed it over, and presented the roster with signatures and stamps, "Master Chao, this roster was found in the backyard of the inn. It contains Miss Tu and all the students who bought the imperial examination questions and their seals."
Tu Pingyun's eyes widened, "Li Jie, why did you betray me?"
"I don't know what Miss Tu is talking about, I'm just a reckless person, I can't see you cheating the world and stealing your name."
Tu Pingjun suddenly looked at Lu Ze, "It's you, it's you who plotted against me!"
Lu Ze looked at her quietly, "Prince I don't know what you're talking about."
At this time, the roster had already been presented, and he flipped over it casually towards the adults, and slapped the gavel again in anger, "There are as many as forty-two people in the hall, you are simply unforgivable!"
"No, how could there be forty-two people?"
Tu Pingjun shouted, "I only managed to win over five people!"
This is called, do not call yourself.
Tu Pingjun said tremblingly, "No, that's not what I meant."
Lu Ze covered his lips, "It's too late."
"No!" Tu Pingyun sternly glared at Lu Ze, "His Royal Highness, you took great pains to frame me, a weak woman, aren't you afraid of retribution?"
"The prince doesn't know what you're talking about."
Lu Ze's sharp eyes fell on Chao Tianhai's body, "Chao Shangshu, don't let the prisoner's signature and drawing be sent to prison."
"Your Majesty understands."
Soon the master came over with a confession, and the two yamen on the left and right held down Tu Pingjun with one hand.
Tu Pingyun struggled desperately, and even bit a yamen directly. The yamen usually treats prisoners ruthlessly. This time, he was also provoked, and a slap slapped on Tu Pingjun's face, pulling out one of her big teeth alive. Then the blood was directly covered with the blood that was spit out.
Lu Ze got up, came to Tu Pingyun, squatted down, and said in Tu Pingyun's ear with only two voices: "This time the prince made hundreds of thousands, thank you."
Pooh!
Tu Pingjun spit at Lu Ze with hatred, but unfortunately Lu Ze quickly avoided it.
Lu Ze straightened his clothes, got up and left.
Soon, Chao Tianhai organized the imperial examination fraud case into a memorial and reported it to the emperor.
When the emperor saw it, he vomited blood again in the middle of the night.
This is the good son he cultivated with great effort.
In such a big case of imperial examination fraud, the emperor certainly did not believe that a small Tu Pingyun could get the exam questions across so many surveillances, unless someone cooperated internally and externally.
He knew about the relationship between Tu Pingjun and Lao Liu.
The Tu family was the one who said hello to help the sixth.
In the end, that's how he repaid him
The emperor vomited blood, and the imperial doctor came to check the pulse. In this way, he summoned the sixth prince into the palace overnight and reprimanded him severely.
The sixth prince kowtowed again and knelt down again.
Kneeling for a full night, this made the emperor believe that he had nothing to do with the matter.
The emperor drank the medicine and calmed down after resting for a night, but what happened was strange, but there was no evidence, and everything was difficult to say.
The emperor can barely support his body by supporting the case with his hands. Recently, he feels that his body is getting worse day by day.
The emperor suppressed the bloody smell in his throat, asked the sixth prince to retreat, and then summoned the dark guard to keep an eye on the prince for twelve hours.
He wanted to see what the prince wanted to do when he took the imperial examination on himself!
At the Council of Rites, Lu Ze spoke calmly for half an hour, and the central idea was summed up in three sentences.
Fraud in the imperial examinations caused the candidates to be disappointed with the imperial court, and we must severely punish these cheaters.
The Ministry of Rites was instructed to formulate a new scientific examination topic as soon as possible and hand it over to him for review.
The re-examination must add a character integrity assessment.
The people from the Ministry of Rites were stunned when they heard it.
The newly appointed Minister of Rites asked, "Dare to ask His Royal Highness, how to assess the character and integrity of candidates?"
Lu Ze took a sip of his tea and said, "It's very simple, there is one extra test, after the liberal arts test, the candidates enter a closed room in turn before leaving, and six adults and I will score in person, and each adult can score from 1 to 10. , the content of the assessment is that the mighty cannot be subdued, the rich and the noble cannot be promiscuous, the poor and the lowly cannot be moved, and the seven of us will examine the character."
"Is this too subjective?" The left servant of the Ministry of Rites questioned.
Lu Ze nodded, took out a stack of IOUs from his sleeve, and flipped it casually, "Is there any objection from the left servant?"
The left servant of the Ministry of Rites silently calculated how much he owed the prince, and after calculating the 36,000 taels of silver, he smiled, "His Royal Highness is wise and martial."
Lu Ze smiled and pulled out an IOU from the Minister of Rites, 100,000.
All the big corrupt officials have been raided by him, and the rest can't be sold for 100,000 silver.
The Minister of Rites nodded and said: "The official is the parent of the common people. Knowledge is second, and character is the first. The prince's move will benefit the society and the future, and the lower officials will never object."
Lu Ze put away the IOU and said with a smile, "Since everyone has no objection, then it's settled."
Hearing the dark guard's reply, the emperor thought hard all night, and his head hurt, and he didn't know what the mad prince did.
But it's not a bad idea to be able to assemble officials of high character for the court.
In the prison cell of the Ministry of Punishment, Tu Pingjun squatted on the cold ground, holding his knees with his hands, his eyes blank.
Tu Shangshu opened the door of the cell with a sad face, "This is the lotus cake that your mother made for you, eat some."
Tu Pingjun looked at Tu Shangshu sadly, "Daddy, won't you save me?"
Tu Shangshu was silent. Selling the examination questions for the imperial examination was a capital offense.
It is fortunate that the emperor did not connect with their Tu family.
"Ping Yun, you are confused."
Tu Pingjun was extremely disappointed, "Dad, I'm your own daughter, why don't you save me?"
Tu Shangshu was also very disappointed with Tu Pingjun. He didn't expect that this daughter he had always loved was so stupid that he couldn't see the situation clearly today.
He put down the food, "Your judgment was approved by the emperor, and no one can save you."
"Dad, you are the emperor's most trusted minister!" Tu Pingjun roared in a rage: "Isn't it useless for you to beg the emperor? You just don't want to offend the emperor for a little me! It's ridiculous that I tried my best to just In order to save the Tu family, he was abandoned by the people closest to him."
It was like this in the past, and it is still in this life.
Why is the world full of bad people
Tu Pingjun's words completely hurt Tu Shangshu. After so many years of love, her daughter didn't understand him at all.
He closed the cell door, "You can do it yourself. Dad can only say that your corpse will be buried well."
"No need." Tu Pingyun said coldly: "Since my father refused to save me before I was alive, why would I pretend to act after death?"
Tu Shangshu said nothing and left.
Tu Pingyun was the only one left in the empty VIP cell.
Seven days later, the imperial examination resumed. This time, Lu Ze asked General Chen Yong to personally supervise the examination room to ensure that not a single bird could fly in.
The three-day imperial examination ended quickly, but the officers and soldiers surrounding the examination room did not withdraw.
The examiner of the Ministry of Rites began to let the candidates leave from the side one by one.
This character test took a quarter of a stick of incense and two days to send all candidates home.
After the candidates left, everyone in the examination room was still not allowed to enter or leave the examination room. Under the supervision of Lu Ze, he worked overtime to correct the examination papers. He completed all the examination papers in just two days, and then released them on the third day.
The speed is amazing!
There were no problems in the top three palace exams this time. The emperor had three problems, and the three answered them one by one very smoothly.
In the end, the emperor appointed Xiao Hongji as the champion, Guanghe Yi as the second place, and Zhang Wenle as the third flower.
The three entered the six divisions respectively, filled the vacancies of the six divisions, and started from the fourth-rank servant, which is already a preferential treatment.
In addition, the candidates from the fourth to the 20th place have also been assigned corresponding official positions, and it is very lucky to wait for a vacancy for a few years in the past.
The emperor personally reviewed the examination papers of these seventeen people, and was very satisfied, and he was also a little pleased with this broom-hearted prince.
In the past few months, the earth dragon turned over, corruption and corruption, and the imperial examinations were fraudulent, which really broke the emperor's heart.
Finally had a relaxing day.
Emperor's birthday.
And longevity.
This birthday is different from what Empress Dowager Min Zhao used to deal with. Every year, the palace is overhauled and the world is happy.
In the court, officials who knew how to please the emperor began to play, saying that the emperor worked hard to rule, and the people lived and worked in peace and contentment.
To build a new palace, to distribute lucky cakes to the people, to advance the draft, and to elect a beauty.
The emperor stroked his beard and was quite happy to hear it.
He is a man and an emperor. Although he has Bai Yueguang's concubine in his heart, it does not prevent him from sleeping more.
Just as the emperor was listening to the wonderful days of the civil and military imaginings of the Manchu Dynasty, Xiao Hongji, who is now the champion of the new division in the Ministry of Households, stepped forward to report, "Your Majesty, this year, the Earth Dragon has just turned over in the south. The treasury is empty, please the emperor put the people first, and don’t be greedy for pleasure, this birthday banquet is mainly about thrift, and the renovation of the palace is even more unnecessary, and the four-yearly draft can also be postponed.”
This sound, piercing, really piercing.
The emperor frowned, "What Aiqing said, what are the opinions of others?"
The emperor asked other people's opinions, just to let his confidants back up Xiao Hongji's words.
He worked hard to be the emperor, let the unfortunate son toss around the day and night to correct the memorials, and he was tired and half-dead, and now he can finally relax. Xiao Hongji is so ignorant of current affairs, and let him be frugal
Even if it's a bull, it should be rewarded after a hard day's work, right
Before the emperor's confidants had spoken, Xin Kebang Vision and Yi, who served in the Ministry of Rites, came forward and said, "Your Majesty, this minister agrees. Your Majesty, you are no longer confused, the harem is full of concubines and concubines, and there are many princes, and it will only be a draft in four years. It is not beneficial to waste human, material and financial resources and spread branches and leaves to the royal family. It is better to abolish the four-year election from this year, so that officials from all over the world can concentrate on serving the common people."
This is even more exaggerated.
Just point at the emperor's nose and curse, you are old and can't give birth anymore, don't mess around.
The Emperor's anger that finally retreated came up again.
Tanhua Zhang Wenle also said: "Your Majesty, there is no need to spend extravagantly on celebrating the birthday. The minister thought that the Yile Palace could be renamed the Diligent Hall, and the officials were asked to write the words of the saints, hang them on it, and engrave the will of the saints on the wall as offerings. The emperor pays his respects every day."
Where did this pedantic idiot come from!
Just when the emperor wondered-
"My minister agrees."
"My minister agrees."
"The minister also agrees."
…
More than a dozen officials knelt down together.
The rest of the standing old fritters officials looked at each other in dismay.
Lu Ze'an stood quietly, looking at his nose and heart, saying that he didn't know anything.
The fourth prince silently handed his sympathetic gaze to his father.
The sixth prince was still closed and did not come.
The people standing by the emperor, huh, are all new faces.
Plus the three standing, there are twenty in total, aren't they all elected by the prince presided over by the imperial examination
The character is really mighty and unyielding, and he is dedicated to being a good official!
It is pedantic that makes people angry!
The emperor tried his best to calm the anger in his chest, "Today I go to court, discuss state affairs first, and put it on hold before my birthday."
When the court was over, the emperor returned to the imperial study and scolded the twenty officials at the personal eunuch Fu Donghai.
Pedant scholar!
After scolding, the emperor summoned other officials and asked them to start preparing for the birthday directly.
He is the emperor, he wants extravagance, he wants to enjoy.
If it wasn't for enjoyment, what would he do as an emperor
In the harem, Concubine Qi listened to the fourth prince talking about the incident in the court, and her stomach hurt from laughing, "Hahahaha, that old thing is also today, it made me laugh to death."
"Mother, be dignified."
The fourth prince was tired, and he reminded him every time he came, but the concubine never remembered it.
"Okay, I see." Concubine Qi rolled her eyes at him, "By the way, are you ready for your father's birthday gift?"
"Ready, where is the mother-in-law?"
"There are still scraps left over from the jade bracelets I made last year in the warehouse. I have someone carve the scraps into a longevity character, and that's about it."
The fourth prince held his forehead, his poor father.
This emperor is the emperor, does anyone in the harem regard him as a fair man
Oh, yes, there is also a concubine.
After the layout was completed, Lu Ze didn't need to take action. Four days later, Xiao Hongji learned that the emperor ordered the Minister of Rites to organize the birthday, and once again protested at the court.
The emperor was angry, he scolded Xiao Hongji on the spot for not being superior, he contradicted him, and demoted him.
The emperor thought that Xiao Hongji should be afraid now. He knew what was going on, and he didn't dare to do it again.
Unexpectedly, the basket stabbed big.
Xiao Hongji, a Confucian scholar, got angry. After going down to court, he knelt directly on the road to go up to court. He straightened his back and asked the emperor to withdraw the extravagant order to arrange birthdays, act simply, and think about the common people.
When he knelt down, the emperor was going crazy, he was going to kill this idiot!
Just when the emperor was so angry that he wanted to kill, Guang Heyi and Zhang Wenle also knelt down.
Immediately afterwards, the remaining seventeen Jinshi Jinshi knelt down.
To kill you have to kill twenty people.
These twenty people were all just chosen.
Moreover, he is indeed capable, and he quickly filled the gap of officials, and even handled affairs for officials with ease.
But why is it so pedantic, I don't know how to work it out
Moreover, these twenty people kneel for three days, and the wind and rain will not move.
I don't know who spread it out, and it was made up as a jingle, and the people in the whole capital, including Huangkou Xiaoer, would sing it.
The emperor's anger raged upward, and the imperial doctor knelt on the ground and begged bitterly, "Emperor, please stay calm."
The Emperor: If I can feel calm, I will drink a fart medicine! pissed him off!
Not only the emperor is angry, but other old fritters officials are also angry.
These twenty people knelt like this, and they didn't follow along, it seemed that they didn't care for the people, and in order to please the emperor, they had to overdraw the state treasury.
But if they kneel down, I am afraid that the emperor will hold grudges in the future and wear them small shoes.
Back then, the Minister of Rites, who was forced to choose candidates with Lu Ze due to huge debts, had his guts turned green. He talked about his children and grandchildren three times a day.
Concubine Qi was even happier when she heard the news. She called the concubines of the harem and began to fight the horse hanging. Unfortunately, she was half-hearted. .
At this moment, only a few people from the Fourth Prince's party knelt down.
Then all the civil and military people knelt down.
The emperor vomited blood again in anger, and the imperial physician was anxious to get on fire.
This is the emperor, why is his heart so small? If you vomit again, you will die...
Seeing that because the emperor was angry every day, he vomited blood every once in a while, his body was not as good as the day, plus the officials owed money to the prince, his heart gradually turned to the prince.
After the emperor noticed the subtle changes in the court, his mentality was about to collapse.
He immediately issued an edict to let the sixth prince come out of the confinement, but he didn't expect that the scumbags would have something to say.
"Your Majesty, Tu Pingjun, the chief criminal of the imperial examination fraud case, is very close to the sixth prince. The case has not been investigated yet, so the sixth prince should not be released easily."
"Your Majesty, you can't let the world's students chill for your son."
"Your Majesty, even if the Sixth Prince has nothing to do with the business test questions, the failure to supervise is a serious crime. It is an extra-judicial grace to close the door and think about it, how can it be released in less than two months?"
"Shut up!" The emperor squeezed out a few words between his teeth, and then coughed heavily, and no one in the court of civil and military spoke and coughed several times.
None of his confidants stood up.
What does this mean, isn't it obvious
The emperor looked at Lu Ze, who had been standing silently for so long, the emperor finally let go of his majesty as an emperor and softened his tone, "Prince, you and the sixth are brothers, and the relationship has always been good in the past. , your sixth brother is wrong, let him out."
Lu Ze pointed to his mouth and sealed his lips.
The emperor obviously didn't understand what Lu Ze meant. The fourth prince stepped forward and said, "Father, he said that you told him to shut up."
"presumptuous!"
The emperor slapped the table and stood up, "I order you to speak now!"
Lu Ze sighed helplessly, stepped forward and said, "What does the emperor want me to say?"
"Tell me about your crown princess." The emperor asked viciously: "You are the crown prince, but the crown prince is born dumb, how can you convince the public? I order you to either demote the crown princess as a side concubine, or ask yourself to depose the prince. place!"