The deputy examiner surnamed Cui blocked Kong Yingda and said, "Kong Jijiu, although you are the examiner of the imperial examination room, you cannot practice favoritism and cover up this person."
Kong Yingda pushed this person away, walked to the emperor and bowed, "Sage, I can testify. Candidate Liu Jinyuan did not soil the examination paper, nor did he despise the court or His Majesty. He has been answering the questions seriously."
Li Er asked curiously: "Oh? Can Aiqing testify? How?"
Kong Yingda turned around and said to everyone: "To be honest, before the imperial examination, someone sent me a letter asking me to pay attention to the candidate Liu Jinyuan in the imperial examination examination room. Of course, it was just normal attention and care, not bribery or handing in papers. We had never done anything before. do not know."
"Kong Jijiu, as the examiner, you should treat every candidate equally, focus on attention and care? It seems inappropriate, right? Who can prove that you will not show favoritism?" The other examiners said dissatisfied.
Kong Yingda smiled. I am from a scholarly family, a great scholar, and a descendant of the sage Kong. Would I be afraid of someone like you? Today I am going to take the blame anyway, so I might as well go all out and give the champion an explanation for not taking good care of this candidate in the first place.
"The person who asked me to pay attention to this person is none other than the Champion. He said that Liu Jinyuan has eloquence and a desire to serve the country. I should pay close attention to him to prevent him from being framed and plotted in the imperial examination."
What? ? ? Is this happening?
Some examiners felt guilty and said: "The words of the champion are rude. The imperial examination is fair and impartial in front of everyone. Who would or dare to plot to harm a candidate?"
Kong Yingda laughed loudly, "It turns out that Mr. Hou did have a perfect plan, and he really made the calculation accurately. Looking at the fate of the candidate Liu Jinyuan, who dares to say that he was not calculated?"
The deputy chief examiner named Cui panicked and argued: "Kong Jijiu, what do you mean by this? Are you saying that I slandered him? Come up with evidence. Otherwise, it is slander. Don't think that you can deceive everyone by removing Champion Hou." , the champion is no longer here, even if he is here, we can’t confuse right and wrong.”
Kong Yingda sneered: "Not long after the imperial examination started, I took two examiners to visit Liu Jinyuan, just to pay normal attention and encouragement. The three of us can prove that the examinee Liu Jinyuan has a clean examination paper, answers the questions seriously, and writes well."
Two other test accomplices also stood up and seconded the certificate.
Kong Yingda continued: "The problem was that I was kidnapped midway, and then Liu Jinyuan was charged with a crime and kicked out of the examination room. When I returned to the examination room, I couldn't investigate if I wanted to. All the test papers were destroyed. It was cleaned and no one could be found."
Hearing his helplessness, Li Er also secretly hated himself. These people were really lawless. How dare they block the sky in the imperial examination room with one hand?
The deputy director surnamed Cui laughed and said sarcastically: "Kong Jijiu, you have been talking about it for a long time, but you are still just talking about it. You can only prove that when you guys went to see him, he did not soil the test paper. But it does not mean that I When the officer went to see him, he was caught red-handed."
Liu Jinyuan said bitterly: "Damn it! I was answering the questions properly, and you came over to talk to me and took the opportunity to pick up my test paper and check it. I was not paying attention for a moment, and you plotted against me. You threw my test paper into the inkstone and soiled it. I was charged and kicked out of the examination room. You and your two accompanying examiners all saw this."
"By the way, the examinee next to me should have heard it even if he didn't see it with his own eyes."
At this point, someone stood up and responded, "Yes, I heard it."
"I heard it too."
Examiner Cui asked: "What did you hear?"
"I heard Liu Jinyuan yelling that you soiled his test paper."
"That's right, that's what happened at that time. He asked you why you soiled his test paper?"
…
"It's a joke! He was caught by me for soiling the test paper. In order to deny it, he slandered and said that it was me who soiled it. In order to get away with it, what you heard is his words that confuse right and wrong. You have not seen it with your own eyes, so you can't prove it! I consider myself loyal to the country and have never done anything untoward."
This sanctimonious demeanor makes people itch with hatred.
At this moment, a sarcastic voice came from the crowd, "Bah! You are not ashamed of yourself? Do you have such a bad intention?"
Everyone looked back and saw that it was Yushitai Liu Rengui and the Chang'an County Magistrate with two detectives who had arrived. The one who cursed was the selfless Liu Rengui.
Several people came to the emperor and bowed and saluted. Liu Rengui explained: "Your Majesty. Chang'an County received a report from scholar Liu Jinyuan and quickly sent people to investigate the cause of death of examiner Zhao Ling and Qian Tong. The ministers also cooperated in the investigation."
"Every effort pays off. After our investigation, the examiner Qian Tong's daughter told the truth. Qian Tong did not die of a sudden illness, but he was forced to swallow poison by people from the Cui family in Qinghe."
Li Er's face darkened, "Is this happening?"
Liu Rengui produced evidence and testimonial fingerprints.
"Your Majesty, you see, this is the body of Qian Tong who was used to open the coffin for inspection. These are the testimonial fingerprints of Qian Tong's family. The Cui family of Qinghe, the family behind Mr. Cui, used Qian Tong's daughter as a threat to force him to take medicine and commit suicide. Afterwards, They gave her a considerable settlement allowance. Fortunately, Qian Tong was a very good tutor, and his daughter was very courageous. She would rather starve to death on the streets without the stolen money, and she would rather avenge her father. So we found out the whole story."
"With the situation of Qian Tong, we opened the coffin and conducted an autopsy. We also found out the condition of the examiner Zhao Ling. He was also poisoned. Unfortunately, Zhao Ling's family had already fled Chang'an with money and could not be found for a while."
Li Er looked at it carefully, then slapped the armrest of the dragon chair and shouted sternly: "Cui Junxing? What else do you have to say?"
At this moment, the man finally couldn't hold it anymore and fell to his knees with a plop, "Your Majesty, please have mercy. I was confused for a moment..."
"Come here, take him down and torture him severely!" Li Er winked at his men, meaning that he must not be allowed to die and must dig deeper.
Then he looked at the scholar Liu Jinyuan and sighed: "Examiner Liu Jinyuan, it is my fault that the court has such a scumbag. It has delayed your success in this imperial examination, I..."
"The ordinary people dare not! It is not easy for your Majesty to govern a country. If a big business is big, there will inevitably be one or two moths. If you can find out the moths and express your grievances, the ordinary people will be grateful. If you are not lucky this year, just take the exam again next year." Liu Jinyuan Very good at talking.
Li Shifen admired this person very much. Wei Zheng next to him heard that this was the person recommended by his son-in-law and had been paying attention. At this time, he stood up and said: "Your Majesty, why don't you give a question on the spot to test this candidate's level. If it is true, If you are talented, why not make an exceptional appointment? This is the time for the imperial court to employ people."
"Okay, then I will give you a test question for you to answer. If you answer well, I will grant you a county to govern." Li Er also agreed with this method.
But Liu Jinyuan refused, "Thank you for your majesty's kindness, and thank you for Doctor Wei's kindness. Please forgive me for not accepting it. The purpose of selecting candidates for the imperial examination is fairness. If the question is made for me today, how can I thank so many candidates and classmates behind me?" ? It’s not fair to them. Then everyone will want to ask His Majesty to set another question, and then the imperial examination will be meaningless."
"So please take back your Majesty's order. The common people are willing to take the exam again next year."
good! What a good boy, you really have some backbone, good job. Wei Zheng couldn't help but praise loudly, and even Li Er couldn't hide the surprise in his eyes. Ordinary people would be overjoyed when they heard about the special offer. How could this kid refuse it with reason? What a good seedling!
Liu Rengui stepped forward and patted him on the shoulder, "Well done. We spent so many days helping you."
Liu Jinyuan turned around and said with a smile: "Mr. Liu, you guys are rushing to investigate the case, not for my personal sake, but to clean up the moth for the Tang Dynasty and find out the unjust cases. It is your duty."
You...your kid's mouth is still so poisonous.
Turning around, Liu Rengui pleaded to the emperor: "Your Majesty, Wei Chen still lacks a clerk to run errands. It is better to leave Liu Jinyuan with Wei Chen as a clerk. He will have a salary to support him, which can be considered as compensation. He is unlucky this year. You can wait until next year to take the imperial examination again."
Li Er nodded, knowing that Liu Rengui wanted to stay by his side to train this kid.
"Okay, that's fine. Even if this matter is cleared up, you just stand aside."
At this moment, a fast horse galloped over and was stopped by the Imperial City Guards, "Oh no, there is a fire in the Imperial College archives, and the imperial examination papers were burned..."
What? How could the archives room catch fire? Kong Yingda, the Imperial Academy member, fainted on the spot when he offered wine to the Imperial Academy!
