Promotion and fortune in Song Dynasty

Lu Ci was really wrong.

That was the unlucky Li Jun who made this big mistake. Not only did he realize it, he was frightened to death on the spot, and he was still in panic at home all day long.

From the promulgation of the tribute edict by the Ministry of Rites in May, to the collection of travel papers and registration of family certificates by the state capitals in early July, to the implementation of the specific list of examiners in mid-July, and the sending of people to lock courts, there was a long period of time. time difference.

Fearing that there would be a mistake, the Li family immediately urged Li Jun to send the things earlier after they learned that the officials had started to collect the family certificates, guarantee certificates, public papers and test papers.

Due to the urging of his family, Li Jun was worried about which old paper to choose for the official paper, and he felt more and more pressure, which made it difficult for him to catch his breath.

When he was worried, he suddenly looked at the table, which was a self-printed pirated book that he bought from a small shabby bookstore.

It is said that the original manuscripts leaked from Mizhou are some of the works left by the Wenqu star who became a blockbuster three years ago and won the third place before the top three when he was studying in the academy.

Lu Ci is very good at literary theory, and every piece is read heartily, and I can feel the author's ease and remarkable literary talent.

In contrast, even if you rack your brains, it is difficult to select a few outstanding works to serve as public documents, which is even more useless.

Li Jun's eyes were slightly fixed, and he picked up the book that was almost torn apart by accident, and after flipping through a few pages absentmindedly, his heart was full of struggles.

In any case, the final decision to stay or stay is still determined by the schedule of the test, and the test paper does not play the role of assessing the art, and it may not even be seen by the examiner.

After thinking about it randomly, the struggle and guilt in Li Jun's heart were reduced to nothing.

Even if Lu Ci reads it himself, he may not be able to remember every old work of his own, let alone other examiners who are not familiar with it?

If the examiner really saw it, then Lu Ci's literary talent is well-known to the world, and it is definitely better than presenting his unsightly old works.

Then why not borrow the literary theory of Wenquxing?

Li Jun, who was moved by this crooked idea, never dreamed that Lu Wenquxing, who was still writing in the Gongyuan three years ago, had transformed himself this year and became the supervisor of Kaifeng Mansion.

When he learned the name of the examiner, he was still on his way to a gathering.

When he heard that Lu Ci was appointed as the proctor, his face instantly turned pale, and his whole body was as cold as falling into an ice cave.

how can that be!

Since Yaji was in no mood to go, Li Jun returned home in a panic, and after repeatedly asking someone to confirm that the news was correct, he began to pace around the house in a panic.

It's over, he's going to be over.

In the days that followed, he didn't read books at all, and he didn't want to see his classmates and friends who were full of tribute to him. He was like a wandering ghost in the fear of Dongchuang's incident all day long.

Li's mother and the servants all thought that it was his first time leaving the stage, and they felt nervous and apprehensive, they were very considerate, ordered people to send more nourishing soup, and softly comforted him, without any idea of ​​Li Jun's inner torment.

Father Li, who was still rich in experience, saw his distraught appearance, which was very unusual, and couldn't help becoming suspicious, so he specially summoned him to the study and asked him privately.

Li Jun was on the verge of collapse, especially knowing that the consequences of this matter were extremely serious, and he had never dared to speak up before, but under his father's kindly questioning, he immediately explained the big mistake he had made, as if grabbing at straws to save his life.

After learning that his son had made such absurd mistakes in a moment of confusion, father Li's eyes darkened and he almost fainted to the ground.

Fortunately, he was supported by Li Jun in time. Father Li took a few breaths before slowing down, but wished he could pass out, and tremblingly said: "Nizi! You have read all the books for so many years in the stomach of a dog." Go?! Why are you so obsessed with ghosts!"

It's just too bad luck!

Li Junyuan was still a little lucky, so he confessed everything, but his father reacted like this, and felt even more desperate. He collapsed on the ground with tears like rain, and kowtowed.

Father Li rubbed his chest, and after standing still, he was still out of breath, and scolded him again.

After that, although he was helpless, he still couldn't let it go.

Who let himself be over half a hundred years old, but only have such a single seedling?

It is not worth it if you are branded as plagiarized and cheated for an originally insignificant paper, and unfortunately copied the old work of the current proctor!

This crime was really carried out, because stealing and ghostwriting have always been regarded as the harm of the imperial examination, and the punishment is the most severe.

As far as he knew, the last person who did this was assigned to the state army thousands of miles away after being fined a copper!

Even if the person was looking for someone to write for him in the provincial examination, the punishment should be considered seriously. Li Jun's is only a public document, which is not enough to be sent to the army, but it is absolutely impossible to avoid the punishment of the imperial court.

Li Jun will definitely become a laughing stock because of this big oolong incident, and his confidence will be destroyed in the future.

Even if you take the exam after a delay of more than ten years, if you pass the exam by chance, you will not be able to pass the palace exam, and there will be no official career to speak of.

This is so unfair.

There are many people who play tricks on the scrolls, and there are countless people who borrow other people's words.

If you really want to investigate, why only investigate his Dalang?

Isn't it just that luck is too bad, when stealing someone else's work, it happened to be stolen by the proctor?

Regardless of Lu Ci's qualifications, virtue, or even age, how does it fit the appearance of an examiner who serves as an examiner for the examination?

It was because he took advantage of the advantages of being an official of the East Palace and the east wind of the prince's supervision of the country, that he was able to be so proud.

In the court hall, although Li's father and Lu Ci met face to face, but because his official rank was two ranks lower than Lu Ci's, and there was no overlap in their positions, there was not much hostility.

Now that Dalang's future is about to be ruined, because of a moment of confusion, after copying this person's old works, the resentment that has been suppressed all the time suddenly surged up.

The more he thought about it, the more terrified he became, so he made up his mind to take care of this matter and try his best to hide it.

As for how to hide it...

Although there are many people in the Kaifeng Mansion and tens of thousands of examination papers, he may not have the chance to be seen by the examiners, and Lu Ci, who is the proctor, may run into him. It is even more negligible.

But to be on the safe side, it is better to imagine the worst-case scenario.

Father Li pondered for a long time, and immediately ordered the distraught Li Jun to destroy all the manuscripts of recent years. For the remaining half a month, he stopped reviewing his homework, and used completely different fonts for the sentences on the original manuscripts. Transcribe it again.

Li Jun nodded desperately.

Even if it is extremely difficult to temporarily practice a new font, it is nothing compared to his future.

He can also guess the intention of his father asking him to do this: if it goes well, when people come to check, he can produce many old manuscripts with different handwritings to prove himself and prove that he has done so. The volume was not written by Li Jun.

Of course, this method is not perfect: if Li Jun didn't do it, who would it be?

If the culprit is not found for a day, the Dali Temple Prime Minister will investigate and visit everywhere, and must investigate to find out the truth.

If you ask other friends who are familiar with Li Jun's handwriting, you will have to expose the truth.

Father Li knew that he had to find another reliable person to be the scapegoat.

So he tried every means to find another person—that was the gentleman of a friend of his who was in business. Although he was qualified to participate in the tribute examination, he had no intention of career.

He endured the pain and paid a large sum of money to convince the other party to accept the preparation of "counterfeit candidate" in the worst case.

In the end, Li's father asked Li Jun to bring the three people who were insured with him to the mansion, and they took turns coercing and luring them to make a good confession.

The three co-guarantors were certainly shocked, but after Li's father explained the pros and cons, they also knew that once the matter was exposed, as co-guarantors, even if they claimed to be ignorant, at least they would be implicated in the court.

In the end, with the money compensation given by Li's father, he had to hold his nose and agree.

After Li's father had prepared everything perfectly, he began to pray in the Taoist temple where the scriptures were enshrined, hoping that Lu Ci would never find out about Li Jun's plagiarism.

But hope was dashed.

When the officials from the Transportation Department and the Prison Department came to the door, Li's father, who had been praying that this day would not come, tensed up.

Even so, his face only showed just the right amount of shock, allowing someone to break into his son Li Jun's study to search...

Apparently, the supervisors never expected that this family would come prepared.

After confiscating all the manuscripts in Li Jun's study, they went back first.

Since this is the first tribute exam presided over by the crown prince since he supervised the country, everyone from top to bottom attaches great importance to it. Now that the Kaifeng mansion has blatantly cheated, and even plagiarized the play on the supervisor's head, it is naturally eye-catching So much so that even His Royal Highness the Crown Prince frequently intervened in person.

Usually, it takes more than ten days to delay the case before dispatching someone to start it, and the inspection result will be issued the next day.

——The handwriting of the manuscript found in Li Jun's home does not match the handwriting of the family certificate and the public scroll.

When Lu Ci learned of this result, the supervisor's personnel had followed the trap set by Li's father in advance and continued to investigate in the wrong direction.

"It doesn't match at all?"

Lu Ci frowned.

His first thought was that there was something tricky in it.

One is the time when Li Jun's official papers were delivered: that was before the crown prince issued an edict and appointed him as the examiner.

If someone with a heart deliberately framed him, how did that person know that he would be the supervisor of the unraveling test of the Kaifeng Mansion earlier than the prince on a whim?

Besides, even if he is the examiner, he may not happen to read Li Jun's portfolio by chance and recognize his old works.

It is really important, and this opportunity should not be chosen.

Second, if Li Jun was falsely identified, what about his own family certificate and public records?Why haven't I seen it?

The third is, if this person really intends to harm Li Jun, how could he use such a clumsy method to frame him with a font completely different from that of the righteous master, instead of imitating it a little bit?Isn't it waiting to be seen through at a glance?

……

With only a cursory thought, he noticed countless doubts, so that the clear evidence appeared in front of him, but it seemed to be concealed.

Lu Ci pondered for a while, and suddenly called the officials: "Please also go to the supervisor and ask if you can lend me a copy of the manuscripts found in Li Jun's study? I will return it in a day. It won't make things difficult for them."

Whether it is the newness of the manuscript, or the strength of the brushwork, the angle of the strokes and other details, it may be overlooked by the supervisor who is in a hurry to check.

If Li Jun was really murdered, then the investigation he did in private would only help the other party when he had to pay his innocence.

If his suspicions are correct, there are really people who are deliberately planning to hide the truth...

Lu Ci smiled.

Then he might be able to find something to do for the little prince who forced himself into this locked courtyard.

The author has something to say: Notes:

1. Regarding the punishment for ghostwriting, you can refer to the imperial edict of 985: "If there is a Qianren who writes a text and should be selected, the person will tell him that he will be sent to the office for prostitution, and he will not be able to be an official; Those who don’t know can do it twice in the hall; those who are in love, stop their official posts, and choose people in the hall three times.” "General History of the Chinese Imperial Examination System Song Dynasty Volume 7" Chapter 355p[-]

2. Supervision Department: Transshipment Department, Mention Prison Department, they supervise each other.