Great Zhou Empress

It was finally time for the imperial examination.

Now it is autumn, and the first thing to do is the state examination, which is the examination for obtaining Juren.

In order to allow the girls from the women's college to take the state examination in Bianjing, Xue Zhijing arranged for them to have temporary household registration in Bianjing.She knew very well that if they were asked to go back to their place of residence to take the exam, it is estimated that more than half of them would have to be taken back home. After all, the imperial examination requires various guarantees and identity verification, and all links can be operated.

The Gong Yuan was also divided into two parts for men and women. Xue Zhijing sent half of the maids in the palace to do body searches and patrols.

The setting of the Gongyuan is actually quite inhumane. Each examinee will be arranged in an area as large as a toilet cubicle in later generations, called "House", which is semi-open, and eats and lives in it for three days.

Not to mention anything else, holding back the exam for three days in such a place will consume a lot of physical and mental strength.

Arranging these ladies is not only for the sake of safety, but also to provide charcoal basins, hot water, sanitary products, etc. for women in need during menstruation.

At noon that day, Xue Zhijing was in a good mood, and chatted with his courtiers about the imperial examination for a long time, talking about how to arrange for the scholars who come out of Enke this time, and what will happen in the future.

The courtiers are also very happy. They are all people who passed the imperial examination more than ten or twenty years ago. For them, the imperial examination is an important experience in their life.When courtiers meet, they often chat with each other about what year are you from?How many names and so on.

Just when the monarch and his ministers were in harmony, someone came in to report urgent information.

"Reporting to Your Majesty, Dali Temple has received an urgent message saying that there has been fraud in the Tribute Court. The Dali Temple Secretary asked if he would go to the Tribute Court to search immediately?"

"fraud?"

Xue Zhijing had a bad intuition in an instant. After the establishment of the new dynasty, the Enke was opened in the first year, and there was fraud?And it still showed up on the first day of the Gongyuan exam?Nothing feels right.

"Who gave the information, saying who is cheating?"

"There is a letter written jointly by several sons. The fraudster is Lin Yuanchun, the daughter of the magistrate of Fuyang County under the jurisdiction of Yuzhou."

Xue Zhijing frowned.

Lin Yuanchun?

That day in the women's courtyard, she was quite impressed with this woman, after all, she was the first one to express her thoughts. At the age of fifteen or sixteen, what impressed Xue Zhijing the most was her wolf-like eyes. people.

Cheating?

A minister in the hall immediately said, "Your Majesty, the imperial examination is a major national event, and any fraudulent incidents must not be tolerated. Your Majesty, please immediately send the imperial army to cooperate with the Minister of Dali Temple to thoroughly investigate this matter."

"Yes, Your Majesty, please investigate thoroughly."

"Your Majesty, please investigate thoroughly."

immediately?Thorough investigation?

The imperial examination is an important method for selecting high-level state officials, which attracts the attention of everyone in the government and the public. What's more, only a few hundred candidates are admitted each time, and only a few dozen Jinshi. Such a pass rate makes the entire dynasty especially Officials and courtiers attached great importance to the imperial examinations.

For such an exam, the requirement for fairness is higher than anything else.

Copying the examination papers with anonymous names, strict body searches, and three-day examinations in the semi-open dormitory of the Gongyuan are all for the fairness and justice of the imperial examination.

For many years, any incident of fraud has been severely punished.

But do you want to investigate right away?

Lin Yuanchun is a woman, so she is naturally in the women's area of ​​the Gongyuan.If Dali Temple Minister brought the imperial guards in, he would definitely disturb all the women who took the exam.Lin Yuanchun will definitely not be able to continue the exam. Even if it is all right after a thorough investigation today, she will miss one or several articles, not to mention the huge pressure on her spirit. It is almost impossible for her Enke to be admitted to Juren this time. .

At the same time, the students in the entire Tribute Academy were taking the exam under tremendous mental pressure, and a little trouble would affect their energy and spirit, and then affect their performance.

Therefore, regardless of whether the fraud is true or false, or whether someone is playing tricks, it cannot be thoroughly investigated by the Tribute Academy.

After thinking about this joint, Xue Zhijing said in a deep voice, "Li Jing is walking in the military aircraft department, and everyone in the imperial city knows Chen Tang."

Li Jing and Chen Tang stepped out of their own queues.

"Chen is here!"

"Chen is here!"

"For the two of you, immediately change into the tribute house and secretly check whether Lin Yuanchun has cheated. If she is found to be cheating, then secretly take her away from the tribute house. If she does not show any cheating behavior, you will help her." The patrolling palace members of the Tribute Court will maintain the order of the Tribute Court together, and no one is allowed to interfere with the exam." Xue Zhijing ordered in a deep voice.

Li Jing understood Xue Zhijing's plan in an instant.

Some time ago, she was arranged to go to the women's college to communicate with those women who were preparing for the exam. While encouraging them, she taught them their own experience in the imperial examination.She knew very well that Xue Zhijing attached great importance to these women who took the imperial examination.

The Dali Temple Minister was not allowed to bring the forbidden army over, because he didn't want to disturb the women who were taking the exam.

He only let himself and Chen Tang go there, and it was a secret investigation, so he couldn't search Lin Yuanchun's dormitory at random, and couldn't interfere with her exam, but could only observe whether she had cheated.

Li Jing felt emotional, and had to say, Xue Zhijing really, the first thing he considered was protection, not censorship.

However, the courtiers have different opinions.

"Your Majesty, the imperial examination is a major national event. If there is any fraudulent behavior, the person who may be cheating must be taken away for review. How can he be allowed to continue the exam? This is unfair to other candidates."

"That's right, Your Majesty, even if both Li Jingxing and Chen Tang are asked to investigate, they can't investigate secretly. For exam cheating, we must thoroughly check all the items on the candidate's body."

"Your Majesty, generally speaking, such an investigation would even take away all ten people around."

"There are many ways to conceal exam cheating. Some will print the answers on their own pen holders, and some even use micro-engraving to engrave them on the rice that candidates bring to the Tribute Academy. How can we find out through secret investigations?"

"I propose to suspend the exams of Lin Yuanchun and the ten people around him, and at the same time thoroughly investigate the students who have been friends with Lin Yuanchun on weekdays. If they are fine, let them take the exam again. If there is any fraud, It can also clear up the atmosphere of the exam, and give me a clean imperial exam for the next week."

Xue Zhijing's face sank like water, a group of courtiers said high-sounding words, but the meaning inside and outside the words had already given Lin Yuanchun a conclusion that she had indeed cheated, and would cut off her and even the future of the ten people around her.

"The imperial examination is a major event in the country."

As soon as Xue Zhijing's words came out, everyone fell silent.The entire hall only echoed Xue Zhijing's voice, which was low and steady.

"All the students have been studying hard for more than ten years, waiting for this moment. The three-day exam requires more than ten articles. You have all experienced it and know how difficult it is. The student Gongyuan exam, the spirit is tight. Tension, a little outside interference will be magnified and affect the normal performance of the students."

Authority is authority, reason is reason.

Under authority, it is also necessary to convince others with reason.

"If the Minister of Dali Temple brings the imperial army to the Tribute Academy, it will definitely affect the performance of the candidates. Not to mention whether the cheating is true or not, but the interference is real. This is the first imperial examination in this dynasty, and I don't want it to happen. Anything that interferes with the student's exam. As for cheating, we still need to investigate, since it is mentioned that there is a suspicion of cheating in the women's area, so I asked Li Jing and Chen Tang to sit in person and focus on taking care of it."

"In addition, Dali Temple Secretary strictly investigates the clues of fraud. Since it is said that someone is cheating, it must be that the exam questions have been leaked in advance, so that candidates can either make beautiful essays in advance or find someone to write them into the exam room. Within three days of the exam, the Gongyuan Can’t move. But the clues outside the venue can be checked, all the way to find out who, how many test questions were leaked, and who is in the middle.”

"General Yuan Jin!"

Yuan Jin stood up, "The minister is here!"

"You bring a team of forbidden troops and cooperate with Dali Temple Minister to strictly investigate!"

"According to the order!"

Xue Zhijing's complexion was a little down after leaving court, and when she returned to the Jianzhang Palace behind, she looked gloomy.The palace maid served her tea, and when she saw her sitting on the long table in the study thinking quietly, they all quietly retreated.

At this time there is no further news, Xue Zhijing doesn't know what is going on with this matter.

If the cheating was true, it would be really bad news. Women took part in the imperial examination, and such a scandal happened at the very beginning, and it will be very difficult to deal with in the future.

If the fraud was caused by someone setting the blame, it was a conspiracy against her.It is not normal for women to take part in the imperial examination and to enter the imperial court in the future. This will undoubtedly touch the nerves of many people. It is not normal for them to have no major movements before the examination.

What I am most afraid of is that the framing is very high-level, the evidence is solid, and on the surface it seems to be a real fraud, that is the biggest blow.

Over there, Li Jing and Chen Tang changed into casual clothes and went to the Gongyuan.

The two had a brief communication on the road. Although Chen Tang was not as quick-witted as Li Jing, he understood the key points immediately.

After the two arrived at the Tribute Court, they did not bother any examinees. Instead, they increased the defense of the Tribute Court to avoid any disturbance to the Tribute Court.

The two also divided the work and asked the maids who searched at that time how they did the search and whether they found anything wrong.

The palace people answered carefully, they strictly followed the rules of the body search, and searched all the women who entered the venue to take the exam inside and out, and they did not find anything wrong.

Li Jing and Chen Tang saw that they could not get any information from the palace people, so they used the pretext of patrolling to observe Lin Yuanchun's actions.Until the night, there was nothing wrong with her.

Generally speaking, people who cheat will always show some actions. People with poor psychological quality will show something wrong on their faces, and it is easy to see the clues.

Over there, Dali Temple, Yuan Jin sat in the lobby of Dali Temple with a group of imperial troops.

"Dali Siqing, you will proceed with the trial according to your rules. I am here to help, so don't worry about me."

But with a group of soldiers at his side, how dare Dali Siqing relax so easily, he really felt his brain hurt.

Yuan Jin did nothing as she said, just sat there like a Buddha.

The Minister of Dali Temple also felt relieved and tried the trial with peace of mind.

However, he seemed to be biased towards those candidates, and considered everything based on what the candidates said, which made Yuan Jin feel a little suspicious.

In the evening, when Xiao Liege came back from the Royal Comprehensive University, seeing Xue Zhijing reading in Jianzhang Palace, his complexion seemed unwell.

"What's the matter? You don't seem to be in a good mood today?"

Xue Zhijing put down his book and walked up to her. The two of them sat down on the chairs beside them, and a maid brought hot tea and snacks.

Xiao Liege seemed to be hungry too, so he took a snack and started eating.

Xue Zhijing said with a smile, "Hungry? Let's eat first, we'll talk later."

The maids brought up a table of food, today there is Xiao Liege's favorite roast mutton, Xue Zhijing tore off a piece for her, and put it in her bowl, "Today said it was made with some honey, honey juice Roast lamb, try it."

Xiao Liege glanced at it with disgust, "The chef in your palace has so many things to do, and you still need to put honey."

Xue Zhijing glanced at her with a smile on his face, "I asked the chef to try it, and I think it should be delicious. Have you ever eaten braised pork, there is also sugar in it, and the sweetness will bring some new tastes Son."

Xiao Liege took a piece and put it in his mouth, nodded and said, "Not bad."

In the afternoon, the imperial chef came to ask what to have for dinner tonight, Xue Zhijing had been thinking about it, and when he heard the question, he thought of "feeding" Xiao Liege.She remembered that she used to love grilled chicken wings with honey sauce, and she always felt that the sweet taste would leave a fragrance on her lips and teeth, and her mind would clear up a lot, so she asked the chef to cook Xiao Liege's favorite roast mutton with honey.

It seemed that Xiao Liege quite liked it.

At this moment Xue Zhijing saw that she was eating happily, and most of the pressure in his heart was relieved.

Xiao Liege is her spiritual solace, whether it is stress or negative emotions, as long as she is together with Xiao Liege to make trouble, play, or even just look at her, most of them can go away.

It wasn't like this before, but as her relationship with Xiao Liege deepened, she felt more and more important about the emotional support Xiao Liege brought her.

Hey, I don't know if it's a good thing or a bad thing.

Xiao Liege asked while eating, "Today is the grand court, is there anything difficult?"

On weekdays, Xiao Liege would not chase after her to ask her about the court affairs, and Xue Zhijing would not deliberately tell her everything. Some kind of boundary that I don't know, trouble.

But since Xiao Liege asked, Xue Zhijing would not fail to answer.

"Today there is news that someone in the Tribute Academy is cheating."

Xiao Liege also knew the importance of the imperial examinations, so his expression became serious immediately, "Oh? Is it checked or not?"

"Investigate, but the ministers wanted me to investigate the Tribute Court, I was afraid of disturbing the examinees and did not agree, so I asked Dali Temple Minister to investigate from the informant. But I still have some bad feelings in my heart."

"how to say?"

"I highly suspect that someone was playing the game, and maybe there will be some obvious evidence of fraud."

Xiao Liege stopped his chopsticks, and asked a little strangely, "We also have imperial examinations in the Liao Kingdom, and they are mainly aimed at Hanchens. All the rules are learned from the previous dynasty's Dacheng. In the imperial examinations, all the requirements are extremely strict. Whether it is a body search when entering or leaving, or locking the dormitory after entering, no matter what happens within three days, you cannot come out, and the test papers are ambiguous and transcribed. These can strictly guarantee the fairness and justice of the exam. How can there be cheating on test day?"

"You're right, why? And why did the cheating news break out on the day of the exam."

Xue Zhijing's gaze was sharp, it seemed that the conversation with Xiao Liege made her more certain of something.

Xiao Liege served her a bowl of mutton and radish soup, Xue Zhijing took a sip, and said, "I always feel that this is a hidden war. They hide in the dark, and they don't approve of me, the empress, in their hearts."