"Yan Song, why are you coming to see me at this time? Aren't you supposed to be grading the papers?"
Jiajing was seen sitting on the dragon chair, turning his gaze to Yan Song, and asked with interest.
After hearing this, Yan Song's face showed a look of sincerity and fear, and he immediately knelt on the ground and reported to Jiajing.
"Your Majesty, I accidentally discovered this test paper during the review process!"
After Yan Song finished speaking, he motioned to the subordinate staff on the side to take a step forward and then continued.
"This candidate, on the answer sheet, made irresponsible remarks about government affairs, and... also..."
Yan Song hesitated and did not dare to continue.
When Jiajing heard this, his expression suddenly turned grim, and he immediately gave the order to the eunuch beside him.
"Go, bring me that test paper!"
"As you command, Your Majesty!"
After receiving Jiajing's instructions, the eunuch immediately stepped forward, took the test paper from the subordinate's hand, and respectfully unfolded it in front of Jiajing.
Jiajing turned his attention to the test paper. When he saw the content clearly, he couldn't help but sneered and said.
"Okay, it's really undesirable for officials and gentry to pay for their food all at once. Quoting scriptures is nonsense!"
After Jiajing finished speaking, he turned over the test paper. When he saw the signature on it, he said coldly.
"This Xu Zhengping is really courageous!"
"Who gave him the courage to give random answers on this?"
Seeing this situation, Yan Song could only complain secretly. After thinking for a moment, he carefully gave his proposal.
"Your Majesty... Your Majesty, do you need me to catch those candidates and question them one by one?"
Hearing this, Jiajing turned his gaze to Yan Song, nodded and gave instructions.
"Well, Yan Song, I will leave this matter to you!"
"Let me find out carefully, who is the instigator behind this?"
After Jiajing finished speaking, he added another sentence.
"As you command, Your Majesty!"
After Yan Song finished speaking, he immediately stood up slowly from the ground with a determined look on his face.
In fact, Yan Song could roughly guess Jiajing's intention. First of all, if something like this happened during the palace examination, as the examiner in charge of this palace examination, he had an unshirkable responsibility!
Now His Majesty has entrusted this matter to himself, which is justified on the one hand, and also on the other hand, he has the intention of making himself guilty and meritorious.
Secondly, this matter is best resolved by officials. If people from Dongchang and Jinyiwei take action, they will definitely use all means to get these candidates to speak. And if these candidates can withstand their punishment, most of them will There were heavy casualties.
In this way, where would the court's face go, and as the chief minister of the cabinet, he was the most suitable candidate.
Finally, and most importantly, His Majesty wants to see if he is in the same camp as him!
After thinking about all this, Yan Song also had a rough plan for what actions he should take next.
Immediately afterwards, after Yan Song bowed to Jiajing, he turned around and left the Yangxin Hall.
When Yan Song walked out of the Yangxin Hall and looked at the surrounding scenery, he couldn't help clenching his fists and muttering silently to himself.
"Let me be the villain!
"Who told you not to be wise and insist on offending His Majesty at this time? You are asking for all this!"
…
After Yan Song received Jiajing's order, he quickly took action.
In order to prevent accidents, Yan Song also asked Yin Ding Shichang of Shuntian Prefecture to transfer people from the Wucheng Military and Horse Division.
When Ding Shichang first received this order, his face was full of disbelief.
In his opinion, there must be something wrong somewhere. All those students who are qualified to participate in the palace examination are the proud ones who have a promising future and will soon leap over the dragon gate!
But after he found out what happened during the palace examination through various channels, he shut up obediently and strictly prohibited anyone from talking about it again.
Soon, all the candidates who participated in this palace examination were controlled. Until now, they still didn't know what happened.
It wasn't until the official in charge of the matter explained the whole story to everyone that these students realized what they were doing and continued to cry out for their injustice.
As the initiator of this case, Xu Zhengping was also imprisoned. His hands and feet were heavily shackled, and his movements were greatly restricted.
But on his face, not only was there no sign of malaise, but a look of resignation.
I don't know how much time passed, but with a "squeak" sound, the door of the cell was pushed open, and Zhang Runde, the Minister of Punishment, walked in with the subordinate in charge of recording confessions.
Xu Zhengping saw Zhang Runde entering the cell, but he didn't show any sign. His expression was extremely cold and silent, as if all this had nothing to do with him.
Zhang Runde calmly sat down opposite Xu Zhengping, coughed twice, and asked.
"Who is instigating you behind your back?"
Hearing this, Xu Zhengping shook his head, his face full of determination, and he responded in a deep voice.
"No one instigated it, this was all my own idea!"
After Zhang Runde heard this, he shook his head and interrupted impatiently.
"Hmph, that's nonsense. Do you think you are noble? Do you know how much trouble you have caused?"
"Because of your actions, all the students who participated in this palace examination suffered unreasonable disasters!"
"Right now, they are being held in cells and being interrogated!"
"You selfish guy!"
After Zhang Runde finished speaking, a look of contempt appeared on his face at the right moment.
After being scolded by Zhang Runde, Xu Zhengping's whole aura suddenly dropped.
What he didn't expect was that because of his fault, so many people would be involved and their futures ruined, which made him fall into deep self-blame.
Zhang Runde saw the struggling and uneasy expression on Xu Zhengping's face and said to himself.
“I didn’t expect it to go so smoothly!”
"It seems that the strategy adopted by me has worked. Students like these who have not yet entered the officialdom are the easiest to handle. They should be able to complete the tasks assigned by the elders soon!"
Then, Xu Zhengping gritted his teeth, took a step forward, and said in a deep voice.
"Sir, this is all my fault and has nothing to do with anyone else!"
When Zhang Runde heard this, he knew the heat was over, and immediately slammed the table and said in a deep voice.
"Since you said that this matter is your fault alone, then you should tell the whole story."
"This way, they can suffer less!"
After Zhang Runde finished speaking, he added another sentence.
After Xu Zhengping listened to Zhang Runde's advice, he also fell into a tangle. On the one hand, he was a classmate who suffered an unreasonable disaster due to his own fault, and on the other hand, he was his mentor who taught him the truth.
At this moment, Xu Zhengping's conscience was suffering unprecedented torture, so that he was unable to make a choice.
Upon seeing this, Zhang Runde no longer hesitated, and immediately prepared to give Xu Zhengping the final blow. He took a piece of paper from the hands of a subordinate on the side and read the contents on it.
"Xu Zhengping, a native of Jiaxing, Zhejiang, his father's name is..."
Seeing this situation, Xu Zhengping panicked for a moment, his face turned pale, and there was already a hint of crying in his words.
"You...what you want to do, this is all my fault and has nothing to do with my family!"
Unexpectedly, Zhang Runde just glanced at him and said coldly.
"If that's the case, then why didn't you think about your family before you acted?"
"You'd better explain it quickly, otherwise, your family will be implicated by you and end up in an extremely tragic end!"
When Zhang Runde said this, his tone suddenly increased, and the meaning of his words was self-evident.
At this moment, Xu Zhengping's psychological defense had been completely broken by Zhang Runde, his eyes had lost their luster, and he was like a walking zombie, and he began to explain the whole story.
"The thing is like this..."
(End of chapter)
