Before long, the front of Wang Yuanji's article was crowded with failed scholars.
Originally, these people were prepared to find faults in the eggs. But after reading Wang Yuanji's article, everyone opened their mouths and froze.
The topic of this examination is: Questioning the Emperor’s Government and the Emperor’s Heart.
This kind of question is actually extremely difficult. The question is too broad and very difficult to answer. And when it comes to emperors, if someone is not good, there will be forbidden remarks. The misfortune of the northern scholars actually has something to do with this topic.
Many scholars think that if their articles are more like the Emperor Ma, they will get good grades. Now when I see Wang Yuanji's article, everyone looks ashamed.
"I heard that when the emperor comes to control the interior of the house, he must have the practical administration of the manager, and then he can control the crowd, and intricately combine everything to lead to the rule of Hongwu; he must have the sincerity to advocate and lead, and then he can encourage all workers and invigorate the general affairs. There is a way to achieve prosperity." Someone couldn't help but murmured, reading Wang Yuanji's article.
"Good, good article, good idea! Just with this sentence, I am willing to be inferior, I am not as good as me..."
As the saying goes: An expert will know if something is there as soon as he makes a move. Naturally, there are often ambiguities about whether an article is good or bad. This leads many scholars to believe that their own articles are no worse than anyone else's.
But once the knowledge is too high, you can only look up to it, and you won't even have the intention to catch up.
Just like Han Jingyun, no one dares to challenge Han Jingyun's mathematics anymore, or even thinks about it. After all, Han Jingyun stumped everyone in the world with his casual question of arranging trees.
Until now, no one has been able to break out of the sixteen-row arrangement left by Han Jingyun. Not to mention, Han Jingyun surpassed himself again and pushed the ranking to twenty rows.
The same goes for Wang Yuanji’s article.
Before these failed scholars saw it, they never thought that there could be such a beautiful article in the world. Now that you’ve seen it, don’t say anything, don’t ask anything, just kneel down and that’s it!
Although scholars often say that "the trees are beautiful in the forest, the wind will destroy them", but that is because you show too low.
If you can show off so well that you can fly, then everyone can only worship you and blow you up to the sky!
Now Wang Yuanji is showing off to the sky, without even showing his face, he has gained a lot of fans.
Of course, he is not without cunning intentions and a clear face. In the minds of these people, they don't care about the quality of the article. What they care about is whether they can go to high school. Knowledge is just a stepping stone for them to enter official career.
"Such an article... How can such an article be done by manpower? Fraud, fraud..."
The faces of several scholars were extremely ugly, and they waved their arms shamelessly and shouted. It seems that it is precisely because this article is so good that they have more reason to believe that it is fraud. After all, if one had not known the topic in advance, how could one have written such a beautiful article?
But this time, there were very few people who could match them. Most people looked ashamed, and looked at a few people with contempt.
This was the first time they had seen such a shameless person. If they had known these people were such a scumbag, they would not have colluded with them in the first place. Looking back now, they feel guilty.
And those few people don't care what others think, anyway, in their opinion, being able to use everyone to achieve their own goals is important. What is face? Can it be eaten?
But these people have forgotten one key point, that is, knowledge is so high that people look up to it, and no matter how much they talk about cheating, it is meaningless.
Take Wang Yuanji's article as an example. Not to mention that there was no fraud, even if there was real fraud and the title was known in advance, how many people could write such an article?
Not to mention ordinary scholars, even great scholars who are well-read in poetry and books would find it difficult to do it.
Han Du originally thought that it was just a few scholars who were dissatisfied and could not cause any trouble. As long as most people were convinced, the matter would be over.
But what he didn't expect was that the storm didn't stop there.
In the court, officials from the north launched an attack and unanimously demanded a re-investigation of the fraud case in this department.
These people insist that there is fraud in the undergraduate examination, and their intentions are obvious. Originally, there were northern scholars rushing in front, but they hid behind the scenes and secretly attacked the enemy without attracting attention.
But now, after reading all the examination papers, especially the Huiyuan examination papers, most scholars feel ashamed and no longer participate in the troubles.
I never expected that these northern officials would hook up with a few shameless scholars and take the risk to stand up and make trouble.
Han Du glanced at the people who stood up and sneered in his heart: Some people really don't even care about their lives in order to get promoted. Lao Zhu is not easy to deal with. Now that these officials are standing up to cause trouble, even if these officials are temporarily complacent in the end, Lao Zhu will definitely wait until the future to settle accounts with them. Lao Zhu is not a generous person, so don’t underestimate Lao Zhu’s pettiness.
Lao Zhu was naturally angry at the persistence of these people. He finally saw hope of uncovering the matter, and now he was provoked by these people again.
Seeing that Lao Zhu looked at the others coldly and said nothing, Han Du stood up without hesitation, bowed and said, "Your Majesty, I have something to say."
"That's right." Lao Zhu looked a little better when he saw Han Du coming out.
Han Du straightened up, turned to look at the leading northern official who was also standing in the middle, and said angrily: "Sir Huang keeps saying that the undergraduate exams are fraudulent and demands a thorough investigation. Do you have any evidence to prove that the undergraduate exams are fraudulent? If there is one, please bring it out, Mr. Huang."
If this person insists on cheating, he is targeting the academy, so Han Du naturally doesn't have a good look on him.
Naturally, the person named Huang couldn't produce evidence, because there was no fraud at all in this interview. Where could he find evidence?
But even if there is no evidence, he will not give up. If Han Du can be circumvented, there is no chance of benefiting from it.
The official surnamed Huang was refreshed. He faced Han Du with a straight face and asked sternly: "Marquis Zhenhai, your academy has passed two hundred Jinshi exams in one go. Don't you want to give the world an explanation?"
Han Du sneered disdainfully and said, "Explain what? Who do the scholars need to explain to when they pass the imperial examination based on their ability? Since the examination papers were made public, even the scholars who participated in the examination have no doubts. Mr. Huang, do you have any questions?" What reason do you have to come forward?"
What he said was, "Who do you think you are with the surname Huang? When will it be your turn to come forward?"
The official surnamed Huang was delighted when he heard this and quickly grabbed Han Du's words.
He turned around and saluted the emperor, and said: "Your Majesty, scholars who are not familiar with the world can easily be deceived by others. Although there is no problem in using high and low test papers, it cannot be ruled out that someone leaks the questions to the academy in advance. I sincerely request the emperor to send officials again, Thoroughly investigate whether Liu Sanwu has colluded with the academy to commit fraud."
Xiang Zhuang dances with sword, aiming at Pei Gong!
Han Du heard that this person's goal was directly at the academy. How could he not know that he was coming for him? He immediately cheered up and went all out to deal with this person's attack with caution.
I feel that I cannot let Lao Zhu send officials to investigate the case again!
It's not that Han Du has something in his mind, but once Lao Zhu sends officials to investigate thoroughly again, the officials investigating the matter will figure out what the emperor means. Faced with the emperor repeatedly sending people to investigate the matter, officials would wonder: Did the conclusion of the last investigation not satisfy the emperor?
In order to please the emperor, some officials were able to detect fraud even if there was no fraud.
This is what the official named Huang had in mind. As long as the emperor agrees to send people to investigate the case again, the conclusion is almost certain. When the evidence is in front of us, even if the emperor is unwilling, he will have to punish people like Liu Sanwu and Han Du, and even the scholars who passed the undergraduate examination will suffer for this.
And he became able to profit from it and accumulated extraordinary prestige among northern scholars and officials.
"Sir Huang, the questions for the undergraduate examination were ordered by the emperor himself that day, and were sent to the Gongyuan without stopping. At this time, all the scholars were already in the Gongyuan. How can we cheat? There is not enough time. It’s totally inappropriate, Mr. Huang, it’s better not to make any assumptions without permission, let alone regard your assumptions as evidence.” Han Du asked with a sneer.
Han Du's words couldn't help but make many officials nod in agreement. All the scholars were already in the Gongyuan before the test questions were delivered. Even if someone could intercept the content of the test questions in this short period of time, it would be completely useless. After the Gongyuan was closed and bolted, the security was as tight as guarding the palace. No one could pass the news in.
Being ridiculed by Han Du, the official surnamed Huang did not feel nervous at all. Instead, he walked up to Han Du in two steps and asked in the tone of interrogating a prisoner: "Two months ago, the Marquis of Zhenhai took away all the examination papers from the imperial court. Have you taken the exam?"
Hearing the words of the official named Huang, Han Du's heart tightened, and he immediately understood that this person had come with bad intentions. Only Zhu Biao knew that he took the examination papers from the East Palace. Han Du didn't think Zhu Biao would tell him about this. It seemed that the huge East Palace was also a sieve with air leakage from all sides.
"What's wrong?" Han Du pretended not to know and asked calmly.
"I am asking the Marquis." The official surnamed Huang looked serious and his eyes were fierce. "The Marquis just needs to say yes or no."
"Yes." Han Du replied without any hesitation. Since the official named Huang had even inquired about this matter, there was no point in Han Du hiding it.
Because the official named Huang must have witnesses and physical evidence to prove that Han Du removed the examination papers from the previous examinations.
If Han Du denies it, then it will be more harmful than giving the official named Huang a clue. It is better to admit it directly and openly.
