Great Zhou Empress

Looks like I'll have to keep checking.

Xue Zhijing simply called the ministers of Dali Temple into the palace overnight, let's listen together.

If you don't torment them anymore, they don't know what kind of moths they are going to make for themselves.

The few candidates all seem to be well-mannered. If you just look at their appearance, you may have a good impression of them.But Xue Zhijing has never been a person who looks at this kind of external image, especially when he still has doubts about them in his heart, let alone have a preference for them because of their external image.

It's just that I don't know if the minister of Dali Temple had any preference for them during the trial.

It's really hard for me, who is the emperor, to play the role of Dali Siqing as a guest.

"Let's talk about it, how did you know that someone cheated, and how did you know how the other party cheated?"

There was no emotion in Xue Zhijing's voice, she was sitting high on the main seat in the hall, even her face looked blurry.

She had let her hang these things out for more than a day, and she was terrified. She didn't know what the empress was going to do. Now, listening to her voice and looking at her appearance, she already felt the power of the emperor, which made people nervous. You see Look at me, look at me, and Lin Yuanchun's fiancé stepped forward.

"Student Chen Haoyan, I have met His Majesty. Two days before the exam at the Tribute Academy, a few of us still gathered in a restaurant. Because we will not take the state exam this time, we can discuss our studies together and prepare for next year's spring. At that time, when we were talking freely on the second floor of the restaurant, we saw a few hooligans come in and sat next to us. They seemed to have got a lot of money from nowhere, so they came to the restaurant to drink, because they heard They mentioned the word "imperial examination", so some of us examiners endured our impatience with their rude language, and went up to talk to them. After the few bastards drank too much, they talked to us excitedly. They got a lot of money recently."

After Lin Yuanchun's fiancé spoke, his language became much smoother, his articulation was also very clear, and he looked decent. He seemed to feel that everyone was listening to him carefully, and he felt that he was valued. , and gradually lost the uneasiness that Xue Zhijing had left for the past two days, and began to talk freely.

However, there is always an inexplicable arrogance in his tone and language expression. I don't know if it is him or all his actions. He feels that he is superior to others.

"Since it's an imperial examination, it's a major national event. Why did a local ruffian have contact with him? I secretly felt that something was wrong. I must find out. So I asked the clerk in the store to bring a few more jugs of wine, so that the The gangsters finally got the news after they got even more drunk. I was really saddened when I heard the news. It’s really sad that something like this happened to Enke for the first time in my court.”

His expression is heart-wrenching, and with his handsome face, it really makes people feel sad for him.

Xue Zhijing had goosebumps all over her body. This person acted a little too much, but she knew very well that whenever the act was too much, the person who acted must have some purpose.

"It turned out that there was fraud in the Women's Court, where His Majesty put so much effort and expectation. And the fraudster was the student's fiancée, Lin Yuanchun. She ran away from home because of her lack of knowledge and the illusion that she could be elected as an official. , Knowing that His Majesty opened a free women's courtyard, she sneaked into it and looked for opportunities. Finally, she found a group of hooligans in Bianjing City, lured them with a lot of money, let them sneak into the examiner's house, and stole the test questions. "

"When I heard about this, the student really couldn't sleep and eat, so I had to go to Lin Yuanchun to confront her, hoping that she would correct her evil ways, give up this imperial examination, and plead guilty to His Majesty. I don't want her to die without repentance. On the first day of the examination at the Tribute Academy, I joined several friends and jointly reported the matter to Dali Temple."

What Chen Haoyan said was a righteous speech, and his whole person had a kind of pride of being responsible for all people, and his pride all pointed to the righteousness of killing his fiancée.

"You're lying, when did I ever find a ruffian to steal test questions?" Lin Yuanchun trembled with anger, but couldn't find evidence to refute it for a while, so he had to repeat such a simple sentence repeatedly.

However, Chen Haoyan flicked his robe sleeves, tilted his head, and vividly staged a scene of cutting off his robe and judging his righteousness.

Xue Zhijing snorted coldly in his heart for a while, if he didn't know that this matter was doubtful, and only watched his performance, maybe he would have really regarded him as a noble and refined scholar.

Xue Zhijing looked at Dali Siqing, "Where is that local ruffian? Where is the restaurant's owner and staff?"

The minister of Dali Temple cupped his hands and replied, "Reporting to Your Majesty, those gangsters got into a fight by the Bian River the day before yesterday because they drank too much. They fell into the river and drowned. The owner and staff of the restaurant are waiting outside the hall."

"Drown?" Xue Zhijing's expression was a little subtle, and he raised his brows, "Then let the owner of the restaurant and the guy come in."

However, the owner and the staff of the restaurant only said that they did see a few people drinking in the restaurant at that time, but they did not hear what their conversation was.

Xue Zhijing didn't respond to their words, but said, "Let the examiner whose test questions were stolen come in."

The examiner who had the stolen test questions was Zuo Shilang from the Ministry of Rites, and his expression seemed calm.

Xue Zhijing thought for a while, and he probably knew what was going on. The previous court favored scholar-bureaucrats. There was a similar incident 200 years ago. The test questions were leaked. It was said that the examiner's family servant stole them.At that time, the family servant was mainly punished and exiled to the border, but the examiner who leaked the test questions was only demoted by two levels, and returned to the center after a few years.

"Zhao Yan, the left servant of the Ministry of Rites, see Your Majesty."

"Tell me, how the test questions were leaked."

"...A thief broke into my house that day...I was thinking about how to modify the test questions, so I put them on the desk in the study...I'm not sure if those hooligans have seen the test questions, they are just street people How to read? I didn’t report it... Later, after the Gongyuan incident, I didn’t know that the cheating was related to the test questions on my side... I only found out today that those hooligans came into my house to steal the test questions... "

What the Minister of Rites said was the same as what they mentioned before, he was robbed by local ruffians in the middle of the night.Moreover, he pushed his responsibilities all over the place with a few words, and it had nothing to do with him.

The matter seems to have conclusive evidence up to this point, because Lin Yuanchun did search for evidence, and some other chains of clues are complete. Except for the most important hooligan who fell into the water and drowned, the evidence has formed a closed loop.

But Xue Zhijing smiled, and said to Zuo Shilang of the Ministry of Rites, "Qing thinks, what kind of punishment should I give you for leaking the exam questions?"

The left servant of the Ministry of Rites said nervously, "I know that I have committed a crime, so I will let Your Majesty deal with it."

"Well, let me think about it." Xue Zhijing said with a half-smile, "Is it okay to exile the whole family?"

"What?" Zuo Shilang of the Ministry of Rites looked at Xue Zhijing in shock, the muscles on his face were twitching, and he subconsciously said, "Your Majesty, exile is the heinous crime."

"I think you are heinous!" Xue Zhijing looked at him coldly, and used a word that most of the time people don't call themselves emperor to express his emotions.

"This Enke is the first imperial examination in this dynasty. As the examiner, you are not only not strict and cautious, but you put the examination questions directly on the desk in the study. Not to mention the hooligans, even if any servant in your family, You can get it easily, this is inadvertent. There was a thief in your home, and the test questions were leaked. You didn’t report it immediately, and tried to hide the past until it became a situation that everyone knows today. Your Majesty, your court has been humiliated. This is disloyalty. At this time, I personally tried the case, but you are still here to bargain with me. You have no attitude of admitting your mistakes. It is unwise to say that you only know about this matter. Reckless, unfaithful, unfilial, unwise, what does my court want an official like you to do?"

This seemed to be Xue Zhijing's first time losing his temper at everyone since he took the throne.

She has always been a gentle person, or in other words, those who have seen her not gentle side have left Bianjing or this world long ago, and the people left now only remember her gentleness and courtesy, but Can't remember how she got to a position where she can be gentle and polite.

Immediately, the entire hall fell silent.

In people's subconscious mind, Xue Zhijing is a woman. Although she has power over the world and is enthroned by Zen, she is still a woman in essence. She is often described as a woman with long hair but short knowledge, lack of knowledge, and easy to be coaxed.

This is also the fundamental reason why this group of people designed such a case intentionally or not.

What's more, Xue Zhijing has always been gentle, and he always convinces people with reason, which made their impression even deeper.

"Here, deprive the position of Zuo Shilang of the Ministry of Rites and demote him to nothing. Deprive all positions of Dali Temple Minister, retain the honor of Juren, and cooperate with the investigation. Li Jing is appointed by the Military Aircraft Department to represent all positions of Dali Temple Minister and re-investigate the case. As for the joint report Several candidates are staying in Dali Temple and cooperating with the investigation. The suspect, Lin Yuanchun, will not be imprisoned, but will stay in Dali Temple and cooperate with the investigation."

The Zuo Shilang of the Ministry of Rites and the Minister of Dali Temple suddenly felt weak. How could they have thought that Xue Zhijing's behavior style was so different from the previous dynasty, how could they take away all the positions in one go? Woolen cloth.

"His Majesty!"

"His Majesty!"

Both of them subconsciously bowed their hands to call His Majesty, almost kneeling down to Xue Zhijingxing to salute.

These scholars worked hard for half their lives to pass the imperial examinations to obtain fame and official status. From then on, future generations could get rid of their status as ordinary commoners and become landlords and nobles. If they were educated properly, the whole family could even prosper for thousands of years.

But now, everything they had was ruined here in an instant, in the hands of the Empress whom they subconsciously still underestimated.

Xue Zhijing glanced at them coldly, "What else do you have to say?"

Only then did they realize that they didn't know how to defend themselves.

Perhaps at this time they can vaguely remember that Xue Zhijing's ascension to the throne was based on the fact that she cleaned up most of the court, those ministers they used to work together, and those seniors who made room for them now , has long since disappeared under Xue Zhijing's gentle appearance.

For the first time, they recognized from their hearts that Xue Zhijing was their king.

It's just that this time is a bit late.

I thought the matter was over like this, so I asked Li Jing to look for evidence to check again, but Chen Haoyan's brain was in a twitch, and he wanted to express his opinion.

"Your Majesty, my complaints are just reporting, why do I have to stay in Dali Temple?"

Xue Zhijing ignored him, and asked Li Jing beside him, "Li Jing, what punishment is there for your disrespect?"

Li Jing replied in a deep voice, "If you are an official, you will be fined from three months to one year depending on the degree of indecency. If you are disrespectful, you will be punished with a cane or cane."

Xue Zhijing leaned against the armrest of the chair, and said as if in thought, "Whip or cane? Caning is the kind where one lash can tear your skin apart? Cane punishment is the kind where ten sticks can make your flesh and blood go bad." Right?"

"Yes, Your Majesty."

Xue Zhijing glanced at Chen Haoyan, and saw that his face was pale and his feet were trembling.

Xue Zhijing sneered, but he said a few words of intimidation casually, so he was afraid that he would be like this. What about the righteous gesture just now, did he really think he was an actor?

"Okay, let's go, and cooperate with the investigation."

Really, don't scare them, really treat yourself as a rabbit that doesn't bite.

After everyone dispersed, Xue Zhijing asked someone to prepare hot water, and she and Xiao Liege took a dip together.

"Baby, what do you think the truth of this matter is?"

"Looking at the current situation, it is likely that someone forged evidence, but it seems that Chen Haoyan is leading the charge now, but I don't know if it is actually him." Xiao Liege replied.

"Looking at his IQ, I guess it's not him."

"IQ?"

Xue Zhijing smiled, and pointed to his head, "It means how good the brain is. For example, my brain is good, which means I have a high IQ."

I thought I would get Xiao Liege's disgusted face, but I didn't expect to see her nodding seriously, "I think so."

Xue Zhijing laughed again.

No matter what, at this time Xue Zhijing felt relaxed after work.

Before entering the bathroom, Xue Zhijing asked Xiao Liege what he wanted to eat, but Xiao Liege actually mentioned braised pork.

"Don't eat roast lamb today?"

"Didn't you mention braised pork that day? I thought it would be better to change the taste."

"Okay, then the braised pork."

After entering the warm water, Xue Zhijing's whole body softened, he closed his eyes, and leaned against the edge of the tub.

The investigation just now was really a headache.

In the water, the calf climbed onto a hand.

Xue Zhijing narrowed his eyes and asked with a smile, "Why, give me a massage?"

"Just by the way."

The two of them sat on the side of the bathtub, Xiao Liege put his hand in the water, and he was able to hold Xue Zhijing's calf.

"Comfortable!"

Xiao Liege's hand pressed gently under the water, kneading inch by inch from ankle to instep.

As if Xue Zhijing likes to wipe her body, Xiao Liege also feels that he likes to massage Xue Zhijing at this time, especially seeing Xue Zhijing gradually relax with the movements of her fingers, and feels even more satisfied.

"It seems that my baby is not only good at horseback riding and archery, but also a little slave girl for massage?" Xue Zhijing's eyes were still squinted, but he spoke softly, even using the habit of their Liao Kingdom , ridiculed Xiao Liege as a slave girl.

Unexpectedly, today's Xiao Liege was not angry, and even hummed.

Only then did Xue Zhijing open his eyes strangely, and looked at her with a smile, "Why is my little darling so obedient today? I'm comparing you to a female slave, so you're not angry?"

Xiao Liege pursed his mouth and gave her a hateful look, "In your eyes, I'm just a master who likes to lose his temper?"

"Of course not." Although Xue Zhijing said so, but looking at her expression, he thought, yes, you are right, that's how it is.

"I just think that today's you are very likable." Xiao Liege said slowly.

"???"

Xue Zhijing didn't react for a while, what?Is Xiao Liege confessing his love to her?

It should be a confession.

After Xiao Liege finished speaking, he was still a little bit ashamed. Seeing that Xue Zhijing still didn't understand, he let go of the hand holding her foot, pretending that he didn't say anything just now.

Xue Zhijing floated in the water, changed positions in the bathtub with some difficulty, "floated" in front of Xiao Liege, held Xiao Liege's face in his hands and looked at himself, "Baby, say what you said just now!"

"Are you deaf because you are old, and you have to listen to the words again?" Xiao Liege was really ashamed and angry, and it was annoying. He had to say something a second time, so annoying.