The emperor is embarrassed

The two sons-in-law of the Lu family have both hit a wall in front of the imperial court, and the enthusiasm of the royal press has not yet faded, and Chun Wei's achievements have already been announced.

The chief examiner Lin Yongshang took the top ten test papers and asked Ming Zhan to decide the ranking. Ming Zhan read them one by one and asked, "What about the second and third rankings?"

Mr. Mei, the deputy chief examiner, presented it, but Ming Zhan didn't answer, and asked, "What rank is Fan Wei and Feng ranked?"

Mrs. Mei was almost sweating on her forehead.

Fan Wei and Feng Zhi followed Ming Zhan from Yunnan and Guizhou, and Ming Zhan sent them to the Ministry of Officials and the Ministry of Household Affairs respectively, and Ming Zhan rewarded their family backgrounds by the way.In the spring, the two were ordered to sign up for reference.

Although the courtiers had some objections to this obvious behavior of promoting their own people to cheat, they acquiesced because they were two little fishes and shrimps, and they didn't cause trouble to the emperor.

Master Mei replied, "Fan Wei is No. 5 on the second list, and Feng Zhi is No. [-] on the third list."

"Take Feng Zhi to the second list." Although the final ranking in the apricot list will be determined after the palace examination, in most cases, there will be little change.

Seeing the embarrassment of the two, Ming Zhan said with a smile, "Lao Mei, I promoted you from the imperial capital to be the assistant examiner of the Ministry of Rites, and you did not refuse me. Su Zhuo..."

Lin Yongshang said knowingly, "I obey the order."

Ming Zhan smiled with satisfaction, took a pen from the desk, and happily approved the top ten rankings, motioned He Yu to hand it over, and ordered, "Publish the list according to this."

Lin Yongshang and Master Mei retired respectfully.

Master Mei was actually a little dissatisfied with Ming Zhan's blatant promotion of people around him, but when he glanced at Master Lin's plain porcelain face from the corner of his eye, he felt that Lin Qingtian, who had been a censor and had always been upright, was also If he wants to agree with His Majesty, there is nothing wrong with Mei Shuanglin echoing others.

Lin Yongshang seemed to be aware of Master Mei's thoughts, and said lightly, "Could it be that we want to learn from those women and compete for favor?"

Master Mei smiled, "I'm very jealous of the luck of those two boys."

Why did Ming Zhan order Fan and Feng to participate in Chunwei? It was nothing more than to give them a background so that they could be promoted and reused in the future.But a group of ministers looked bitterly, Fan Wei is okay, his writing is exquisite, and he is a real talent, and he deserves his name to enter the second list.Feng Zhi was a bit of a rookie, not because Feng Zhi was uneducated, but because the examinee was too tough.Feng Zhi is not as famous as Fan Wei since he was a child, and it is preferential treatment for him to enter the top three.

However, the imperial court belongs to the Feng family, so naturally Ming Zhan has the final say.

What's more, everyone knew that Ming Zhan had just sent off the Lu family's son-in-law, and he was not very angry. He had always had a reputation for being violent, so the courtiers did not dare to provoke him.Lin Yongshang is not a fool, why go against Longlin for some trivial matters.

Fan Wei and Feng Zhi were very sure, Ming Zhan put down the big talk before the Chunwei exam: even if you go to the exam, there is no guarantee for the first class, and the second class will definitely have a door.

The two of them had always been convinced of Ming Zhan, so they passed the test directly. Feng Zhi was still very sure, and said to Ming Zhan, "Your Majesty, if we do well in the test, don't call us the top three. Otherwise, I'm afraid someone will Said you were biased."

Ming Zhan said, "Speak slowly, you have blown my roof apart, and I have to spend money to repair it."

Fan Wei is happy.

Seeing the rankings on the list now, Feng Zhi was indeed a little secretly pleased. He was not ignorant of the heights of heaven and earth, and said to Fan Wei, "It seems that His Majesty takes special care of me."

Fan Wei teased, "Why, pulled you down from the top spot?"

Feng Zhi raised his fist and knocked Fan Wei on the head, "You still don't know the ink in my stomach. Let's go to the palace and thank His Majesty for your kindness?"

"It's really time to go." Without Ming Zhan's relationship, Fan Wei felt that whether he could be a Jinshi was in doubt.

The two packed up and went.

Ming Zhan was very happy to see the two of them, "Did you see the list? You did well in the exam."

The two said in unison, "Thank you, Your Majesty." Those who lean against the big tree to enjoy the shade should at least thank the big tree.

"Big tree" Ming Zhan smiled, "It's just in time, you can have dinner with me, Feifei is not here." The last sentence was a lot of complaints, Ming Zhan said to the two, "Tell me, I am as powerful and powerful as I am." How many men are there who are both beautiful and beautiful? Feifei actually abandoned me and went out to fool around with others. There is really no reason in this world."

Who can I tell about Ming Zhan and Ruan Hongfei?It happened that Fan Wei and Feng Zhi were all insiders, Ming Zhan saw them as if he saw a trash can, and couldn't wait to vent his complaints.

Fan Wei had no choice but to persuade, "Your Majesty, you have to think about it." The matter has come to this point, and there is nothing to say.

"That's right. The important minister said that the Lord Du is both beautiful and powerful." Feng Zhi didn't have much sympathy for Ming Zhan in his heart, although this idea was a bit outrageous.But back then, both he and Fan Wei advised Ming Zhan to stay away from Wei.Later, Ming Zhan lied to him from the inside to the outside, and he still loves him so much, who can he blame?

Ming Zhan groaned dissatisfiedly, "Are you my people? Could it be that Feifei bought you?"

Fan Wei gritted his teeth and gave Ming Zhan an idea, "With your majesty's character, how dare he not put your majesty first. Your majesty can just go to the harem for entertainment and give him some flair." Fan Wei is definitely invisible in the court The expectation is that Ming Zhan will marry a biological child.

What kind of bad talk is this, Ming Zhan stopped talking immediately, shook his hand and said, "Get out, get out, I don't have a good idea, I won't invite you to dinner."

Fan Wei and Feng Zhi ran away in a hurry, Ming Zhan was depressed, if they stayed for dinner, they would definitely listen to Ming Zhan's bitterness.Instead of eating imperial food mixed with Ming Zhan's bitter water, it's better to go home and eat yourself.You must know that the richness of the current imperial meal is definitely far inferior to that of the past, and the attractiveness is greatly reduced.

Ming Zhan drove Fan Wei and Feng Zhi away, and went to eat at his mother's place by himself.

Empress Dowager Wei was reading the account book, when she saw Ming Zhan, she naturally put the account aside, greeted her son first, and said with a smile, "Why are you here when you are free?"

"It's been a long time since I had dinner with my mother." Ming Zhan walked over to sit with his mother on the throne with a filial face.

Empress Dowager Wei served tea, with a smile in her eyes, and joked, "People say 'you forget your mother when you marry a daughter-in-law'. If you don't come, I won't blame you. You came here so lonely, Presumably the daughter-in-law is not at home."

"Where can it be?" Ming Zhan argued in vain, leaning his head on his mother's shoulder as he did when he was a child, and called out, "Mom."

"Huh?" Queen Mother Wei patted her son's head, "What's wrong?"

Ming Zhan waved his hand, and the eunuchs and eunuchs in the room quietly retreated, "Today I ordered the top ten tributes. No. 1 is from Shandong, No. 2 is from the imperial capital, No. 3 is from Zhejiang, and then it is from Jiangsu. Shanxi, Jizhong, Huguang, Shuzhong and other places."

Empress Dowager Wei didn't realize there was any problem, Ming Zhan said in a clear voice, "Mother, don't you think the distribution of the top ten is too even? I started to look at the Chunwei archives ten years ago, and it was like this every year. The top ten More than eight provinces will be involved. Then the second list is distributed according to the ratio of southeast to northwest, for example, the number of second list Jinshi in the imperial capital in the past ten years is between 20 and 25."

Empress Dowager Wei frowned in deep thought, and said softly after a long time, "From the results, this is not a bad thing."

"It is true that the rich and the poor are not the same in different places. The educational conditions of the rich places are definitely better than those of the poor ones. It is also a way to recruit students by geography. Perhaps this is an unspoken secret. But first, no one told me Having said this, let alone instructions, there is not even a hint; second, outsiders only know that the examination papers are sealed, and it seems that Chunwei has a way to mark the examination papers. Since regions can be distinguished, can people's names also be used? to mark?"

"This matter can be investigated slowly. No matter what, it can't be revealed now." The Empress Dowager Wei answered Ming Zhan's question calmly. Not conducive to governance."

Ming Zhan nodded, and sighed softly, "I didn't intend to make a scene, but I just felt that there was no one to trust in the court, so I had to come and talk to my mother."

"It's just a small matter." Princess Wei smiled and said disapprovingly, "If you want me to say, the Supreme Emperor also knows about this method of recruiting Jinshi according to geographical provinces. I remember that in the last years of Emperor Renzong, there was a case of Chunwei fraud. , the reason is very simple. In that world of Chunwei, only one Jinshi was produced among the [-] candidates from Guangdong and Guangxi. You know, Guangdong and Guangxi are remote and sparsely populated, so education is naturally not as good as that in places such as Southeast Huguang. However, such a result , Candidates from Guangdong and Guangxi cannot accept it. Even the governor of Guangdong and Guangxi at that time also issued a memorial, suspecting that Chunwei was unfair. Emperor Renzong ordered a thorough investigation. His reputation was ruined and he died in prison. The six deputy chief examiners, except Nanfeng Bo Lu Jianan, Lu Jianan had not yet become a nobleman at that time, but he was the only one who escaped his life by chance, and the rest were either beheaded or imprisoned and dismissed from office. .As for the proctors, more than half of them were summoned by the Criminal Ministry for interrogation."

What happened more than [-] years ago, the Empress Dowager Wei said it seemed to be vivid, Ming Zhan said with admiration, "Mother knows it very clearly."

Empress Dowager Wei looked at Ming Zhan with soft eyes, "Fan Linxi is a rare great Confucian, and it is a pity that he died. As far as the Chunwei scandal in the last years of Renzong was concerned, I believe that Fan Linxi was wronged, but he had to die. Back then, he was Emperor Renzong pointed him to Prince Li's master, and Prince Li has been given advice from him since he was a child. He is a man of noble character and profound knowledge, and is a rare person. Unfortunately, he is in the wrong position."

Empress Dowager Wei said "it's a pity" twice, which shows that Mr. Fan is indeed a pity.

Ming Zhan said, "This is also impossible."

"Yes, there is no right or wrong in politics." The Empress Dowager Wei said softly, "Chunwei is not just Chunwei. Fairness and justice are relative terms. Ming Zhan, as long as you keep the country at a relatively fair level, You are already a rare Mingjun. If the water is clear, there will be no fish. For example, if you ordered Fan Wei and Feng Zhi to participate in the Spring Festival, could it be that there is no suspicion of cheating?"

Ming Zhan, a thick-skinned man, almost blushed at what Queen Mother Wei said, and couldn't help shouting, "Mother, are you mocking me for following others?"

Empress Dowager Wei patted Ming Zhan on the shoulder and smiled, "Why? I mean, the imperial court is surnamed Feng. You can cheat, but they can't. However, in my opinion, you don't have to have too much trouble this time. Big suspicion. First of all, you did not follow the previous rules. In the past, the chief examiner and the deputy chief examiner judged the examination papers. This time you did not use them. Therefore, the chance of cheating is not high."

Ming Zhan told Queen Wei that he was in a good mood, and smiled, "I was a bit on the edge of the horns before, but I heard what my mother said. I will go back and verify it, and I will know." I have an idea again.

Empress Dowager Wei sighed, according to Ming Zhan's suspicious nature, the chance of being fooled is not too high.Fortunately, Ming Zhan has another advantage, he likes nagging very much, and he completely trusts the people he trusts 100%, therefore, such a suspicious temperament is actually a cheerful temperament.

Thinking of a solution to this matter, Ming Zhan ate a full meal at Queen Mother Wei's until Ruan Hongfei came back from outside and came to pick him up in person.Ming Zhan was willing to move his buttocks and go back to the dorm with Ruan Hongfei after he had done his best.