Dressed as Su Peisheng

Kangxi 50 years

Ministry of Rites on the seventh day of June

In the wing room, the servant has just delivered lunch.

Lian Xiao carefully entered Wang Hongxu's room with the news that had just come in from outside.

"My lord, Prince Yong sent people to the prison in Shuntian Mansion to strictly guard the candidate. No one was allowed to approach him, and there was no further interrogation. It seems that another three days have passed."

Wang Hongxu frowned slightly, and walked slowly to the window, "Prince Yong has always acted cautiously, but this time the incident happened suddenly, and there are many strange things, I'm afraid he won't fall into our trap so easily."

"How about that?"

Lian Xiao was a little anxious, "It's been a long time, I'm afraid something will happen. Now the two original files are in the hands of Prince Yong, if he finds out—"

"No," Wang Hongxu retorted bluntly, "to cheat, you can only make a fuss on the ink scroll. No one would think that the problem lies in the ink scroll. What's more, our deceit is enough to deceive the truth, even if it is sealed. It will be difficult for someone to check it in person, unless he is asked to personally identify it. But, will anyone believe what he said?"

"Then it's not an option to delay like this?"

Mr. Lian Xiao was still not at ease, "The night is long and there are many dreams, Prince Yong is really not easy to fool."

Wang Hongxu took a deep breath, looked through the window lattice, and fell to the back hall of the Ministry of Rites, "Since Prince Yong refuses to take this step, let's force him to take it!"

The back hall of the Ministry of Rites

In the middle of the room, the fourth elder brother was still reading the confessions sent from various places.

Wang Xuling and others are still checking the rest of the reels, for fear that some fish will slip through the net.

Su Wei stood under the porch outside the window, from where he happened to be able to see the [-] scrolls stored inside.Zhujuan and Mojuan are stored opposite each other, and two hills are piled up on several desks.

"Eunuch Su," Zhang Bao walked over and nodded pointedly at Su Wei.

Su Wei turned around and looked into the window. The two volumes with problems were placed at the top of the two mountains of books.

"My lord," Wang Xuling walked into the inner room, and put away the checked papers, "I checked the [-] papers again, and confirmed that only those two papers had problems."

The fourth elder brother nodded, "Thank you for your hard work. Let's rest in the afternoon, my lords. I will go to Shuntian Mansion today."

"Is the prince planning to interrogate the candidate himself?" Wang Xuling asked.

"That's right," the fourth elder brother sighed slightly, "Although the people in the transcription office and the reading office resolutely refused to plead guilty, the discrepancy between the Zhu Juan and the ink scroll is already solid evidence. If the king wants to be scruples about all the students in the world, it's even more important. We must maintain the fairness of the imperial examination.”

"Your Majesty's concerns are absolutely right," Wang Xuling bowed slightly, "It's the lifelong wish of many students to study hard for ten years in the middle of the cold window and to be admitted to the examination list. Injustice in the imperial examination is a major event that shakes the country's system. Although the status of the candidates is special , but it is imperative for the prince to find out the matter."

In the afternoon, Prince Yong left the Ministry of Rites and went to Shuntian Mansion.

The officials involved in the grinding went back to their rooms to rest. These days of continuous busyness made people somewhat tired.The doors of all the wing rooms were closed tightly, and there was no sound at all.

Wang Xuling was the oldest, and after a few days of hard work, he finally found some free time, so he took a nap on the bed.

Unexpectedly, it was evening after this sleep, and it was already dark outside.

Wang Tubing didn't dare to disturb his father's rest. Seeing that it was getting dark, he brought a bowl of tea and entered Wang Xuling's room.

"What time is it? Is the prince back?"

"Not yet, it's already past the unitary hour, I think I'll be back soon," Wang Tubing helped his father off the bed.

Wang Xuling's eyes were a little dazed, and he looked out of the window in a daze, and suddenly saw a strange light.

"what is that?"

Wang Tubing looked out of the window following his father's hand, and the bright light suddenly expanded!

"fire!"

Wang Tubing's eyes widened. Looking from his father's room, it was the back hall of the Ministry of Rites.

"Oops!"

Wang Xuling reacted abruptly, "I know how to roll!"

Lian Xiao's carriage followed Prince Yong's and returned to the Ministry of Rites together.

Lian Xiao looked worried, this afternoon, even though Prince Yong personally interrogated the candidate, he still did not use the punishment.

He was brought in with ease, and sent back to the prison with ease.

During the interrogation, Lian Xiao could only wait outside, and even Prince Yong didn't know what he asked.

A group of vehicles and horses blared their gongs to clear the way, and soon reached East Chang'an Avenue, and the Sixth Department was not far ahead.At this time, clouds of black smoke had already risen above the Ministry of Rites.

Hearing the commotion outside, Lian Xiao pushed open the car window, a smile slowly appeared on his face.

The car stopped in front of the etiquette department, Wang Xuling was supported by someone, his face was covered with black ashes, but he still wanted to rush in.

"Master Wang!"

The fourth elder brother got out of the carriage and stopped him in time.

When Wang Xuling looked back and saw Prince Yong, two lines of tears came down, "My lord, old ministers are useless, old ministers are useless!"

"My lord Wang, why are you bothering?" The fourth elder brother helped Wang Xuling who was about to kneel on the ground in time.

"My lord, although the fire was discovered early, it is suspected that someone poured oil on the back hall. The fire started too fast, and we failed to grab the scroll..."

Wang Bingtu supported his father who was about to faint, but his face was also dark and his eyes were lamenting.

"I can't blame you for this, you don't need to blame yourself..."

The fourth elder brother looked up at the mid-air filled with black smoke, and sighed heavily.

"My lord, it's clear that someone wants to destroy the evidence and set fire on purpose!"

Wang Hongxu came over with an angry expression on his face, "It's so bold, it's shocking!"

"That's right, my lord. As soon as we went to Shuntian Mansion, they dared to set fire to the Ministry of Rituals! That Juzi and the people behind him took the lord's mind and deliberately ignored the law!"

When Lian Xiao caught up, he was also full of anger.

"The prince still insists on treating people with courtesy today. But this kind of person is obviously confident! With such behavior, where will the prince be placed, and where will the sage be placed?"

Wang Xuling, Jiang Tingxi and others stood aside, and they couldn't hide their indignation at this time.

Three hundred examination papers were burned in one fire. What will the candidates who passed the same course do?

Even if there is a normal palace examination in the future, the fairness of this session of the examination will definitely be criticized by future generations.

How much manpower and material resources will it take for the imperial court to hold an imperial examination?How many years will he have to study hard once he is admitted to the imperial examination?

Now all the villains who cheated in the exam because of this one or two are all ruined.

"My lord, you don't need to worry too much anymore..."

Wang Xuling finally opened his mouth, "Right now, the scrolls and ink scrolls are all destroyed. If the candidate doesn't recruit, won't those criminals who collaborated in cheating get away with it? The prince can no longer appreciate his favor!"

"However," Jiang Tingxi still disagreed, "Now that the two scrolls are gone, if the prince wants to use the capital punishment again, wouldn't it be suspected that the torture was done by an unknown teacher?"

"We've read both volumes, and it doesn't matter if you have them or not."

Lian Xiao continued, "My lord, please punish that judge severely, and arrest the other judge immediately! As for the officials of the transcription office and the reading office, if they do not admit it themselves, their colleagues will be arrested." , Shangguan! Under severe punishment, I believe that there will always be someone who can speak!"

"With such a big fanfare, I'm afraid it will disturb the whole court..."

The fourth elder brother had his hands behind his back, and he seemed to still have hesitation on his face.

"But my lord, you have nothing else to do now."

Wang Hongxu took two steps forward, and said in a low voice, "Your Majesty presided over the trial test. There was a cheating incident. The key to it has not yet been found out, but people burned [-] copies of the meeting papers in the Ministry of Rites. If the news spreads Entering the palace, the Lord Long Live will definitely be furious. If the prince still fails to hand over the main culprit and accomplice in this cheating case, I am afraid that he will be thundered, and your reputation will be greatly damaged."

"My lord Wang's words are hard to hear." Grandpa Su, who had been following the fourth elder brother without any movement, suddenly said, "Our prince acts cautiously. Before the matter is investigated, we don't randomly torture our son. It is to protect The relationship between the imperial court and the students all over the world is even more of Gu Nian Wansui's love of talents. How can such good intentions provoke Longyan's fury, and how can it damage his reputation?"

Wang Hongxu frowned, looked at the well-known Eunuch Su, then looked back at Prince Yong, and said in a very arrogant tone, "I am discussing with the lord about important court affairs. Eunuch Su is an internal prisoner. Well said."

Prince Yong, who had not made any big moves all this time, turned his head when he heard the words, his eyes were extremely cold, and his tone was full of warnings, "My people, open your mouth or keep your mouth shut, it's no one's turn to speak up!"

Wang Hongxu was stunned for a moment, his face was worried, but he had to take a step back, cupped his hands and said, "Please forgive me, my lord."

Over there, the official from the Ministry of Rites who was in charge of fighting the fire ran out and saluted the fourth elder brother, "My lord, the open fire has been extinguished, and the main source of the fire is in the back hall. The arsonist probably took advantage of the change of guards to turn into the back hall." window, and escaped in the chaos after the fire broke out. Right now, the official is still investigating."

"Then, what about the rolls? Is there any left?" Wang Xuling asked hastily.

The officials of the Ministry of Rites hesitated for a while, but after seeing Prince Yong's expression, they still shook their heads regretfully at Mr. Wang.

Wang Xuling followed him, and Wang Tubing quickly supported him and comforted him softly.

"Hurry up! Follow up!"

At the gate of the Ministry of Rites, a few more people were detained. They were the same people who were temporarily detained in the transcription office and interrogation office of the Ministry of Rites.

"My lord, I have been wronged, my lord!"

"Shut up!" The guard guard was very strict.

"My lord, why don't you send these people to Shuntian Mansion Prison, I will definitely pick something out of their mouths!" Lian Xiao said again.

The fourth elder brother ignored him, and Fu Nai, who was guarding beside him, said to the guards, "Bring him here!"

"Yes!" The guards obeyed the order.

The few officials who had been imprisoned were already shattered at this time, and when they were brought in front of Prince Yong, they would only kowtow and cry for grievances.

"My lord, they are dead ducks with a stubborn mouth. They won't tell the truth if they don't show some seriousness!"

"Master Lian!"

Su Wei opened his mouth, blocking Lian Xiao's endless words, "My lord hasn't spoken yet, are you talking too much?"