I solved crimes in the Song Dynasty and strengthened the country [Seventh Five-Year]

63 Floating Clouds Gone With the Water

Zhan Zhao heard that Jiang Lin was involved in a "fraud case", and when he came to Yushitai to inquire about the news from Bao Zheng, he realized that Jiang Lin had already solved this troublesome matter by himself, and also found out the real impostor .

"You Jiang Shaoqing may be patient, you don't have to worry about him at all." Bao Zheng raised his eyelids and glanced at Zhan Zhao, who immediately saw a bit of helplessness towards Jiang Lin from his eyes.

Zhan Zhao smiled knowingly, and only asked, "What is the official's attitude?"

"Shi Boutong's grades in the previous imperial examination were acceptable, but his performance in the second re-examination was extremely poor, and he even made a low-level citation error. It is very likely that he stole the questions from the examiner. I wanted to invite Shi Bu Tong is suspected of fraud, but..."

Bao Zheng said a little unfairly: "Concubine Zhang Gui just happened to come to look for the official, and interrupted the re-examination at that time. After the official chatted with her, they were relieved, saying that those who will be disqualified should take the exam again next year. .”

Zhan Zhao naturally knew that Shi Boutong was Zhang Yaozuo's nephew and had a close relationship with Zhang Guifei.

He frowned and said: "But if Shi Boutong really cheated, according to the regulations, he should be permanently exempted from the examination qualification. Doesn't Zhang Guifei seem to be covering up?"

"How can officials not understand such a truth?"

Of course Bao Zheng was very dissatisfied with this kind of favoritism, but he could also guess the concerns of the officials.

The official family governed the country with benevolence and kindness, which gave them a lot of face for these civil servants, but this also gave the official family a relatively obvious shortcoming-he would also be soft-hearted towards the concubines who were close to him, and even often indulged the mother's family who protected the concubine.

But Zhang Yaozuo didn't have a biological son, so he almost treated his nephew Shi Boutong as his own son, and even asked for a quota for him, so that he didn't have to take the imperial examination, but could also be an official.

In theory, Shi Boutong's motive for cheating is not sufficient, if he wanted to save some face for the Zhang family, he would have lost all of it by now.

Therefore, on the premise that the matter of Shi Boutong's cheating has not yet been concluded, if the officials directly choose to investigate the matter thoroughly, the situation will undoubtedly only get worse.

If it proves that Shi Boutong was wronged, the officials will chill the heart of the "old man" for no reason; if Shi Boutong really violated the rules, then this action will inevitably lead to long-term grievances between the ministers of the DPRK and the foreign relatives.

From a personal point of view, the officials thought that the courtiers who were born as civilians were loyal to the country first and then to the emperor. On the contrary, "relatives of the emperor" like Zhang Yaozuo, who were incompetent, were more able to be controlled by him.

This involves many twists and turns of checks and balances, Bao Zheng can understand, but in terms of his temper, he really cannot accept such behavior of the Zhang family.

Zhan Zhao naturally saw the anger hidden under his quiet face, and asked tentatively, "Then Zhongcheng wants to make another suggestion to the officials?"

"If you move Shi Boutong at this time, it will be difficult to deal with the future."

Although Bao Zheng has impeached many disloyal ministers over the years and was called "Bao Bomb" by the common people, he has never been targeted by anyone, because he never bombed aimlessly.

With his ability, it is not a problem to find a Shi Boutong with good grades.But in this way, Zhang Yaozuo, who is hiding behind him, is bound to be more vigilant, and even trips Bao Zheng.

Bao Zheng didn't want to startle the enemy, he just wanted to hit the target with one hit.

So he said to Zhan Zhao: "Take this matter as a bargaining chip for the time being, and now we should take advantage of the other party's inattention and find out the details of the other party."

"Yes."

"By the way," Bao Zheng called to stop Zhan Zhao, "don't forget to remind Jiang Shaocheng to be careful and watch out for movements from the Zhang family. After all, I don't think this fraud case is aimed at Mr. Fan and Mr. Feng." Instead, it was always aimed at him."

·

When meeting Zhan Zhao at the gate of the palace who also came to the little prince's first birthday banquet, Jiang Lin was not surprised by what the other party whispered.

After all, Sima Guang had reminded him of Zhang Yaozuo's problem when he was dealing with the case in the Pei Mansion, and Jiang Lin had also noticed that the other party's attitude was completely opposite to his first meeting.

He didn't know how deeply Zhang Yaozuo was involved with the people of the Pei family, but judging from the fact that the other party spared no effort to include himself in this fraud case, Zhang Yaozuo should have been really tricked by him .

Thinking about the recent rumors about Shi Boutong, Jiang Lin could also predict that Zhang Yaozuo would not let it go.

He thanked Zhan Zhao and Bao Zheng for their kindness, and chatted with them about the birthday party later.

Zhan Zhao said: "I'm here with Bao Zhongcheng, but I didn't know that Jiang Shaoqing was also invited to this banquet. It seems that the officials really favor you."

Jiang Lin just wanted to say "It's okay", but then he realized that perhaps he had heard too much about Zhao Zhen's benevolence, and he felt that the rewards he received were not that great.

But thinking about it carefully, the other party, as the king of a country, has repeatedly praised him, took him to participate in the ceremony of offering sacrifices to heaven, and promoted him, a young junior, to a fourth-rank official...

Well, it is indeed a bit exaggerated.

When he entered the inner courtyard of the palace and met everyone's staring eyes on him, Jiang Lin realized that he seemed to have achieved a lot in this world of books.

Jiang Lin, who hadn't adjusted his schedule yet because of the exhaustion during the business trip a few days ago, was afraid that he would be late for the court, so he specially asked for a few days off.

He has only been to court for a total of one day. It stands to reason that the important ministers and noble relatives who were invited to the banquet should not know him too well, but just the short way he walked to his seat, countless strange faces greeted him nod.

Of course, with Jiang Lin's eyesight, he naturally didn't miss Zhang Yaozuo's gloomy and cold eyes mixed with it - after only a short glance, Jiang Lin felt the most obvious chill.

But the other party was too far away from him, so Jiang Lin pretended he didn't see anything, said goodbye to Tong Zhan Zhao, and then walked to his seat.

Without Xie Ling or Zhan Zhao pointing out the names of the people around him, it was inconvenient for Jiang Lin to chat with people casually, but he couldn't help the people sitting around him to talk vigorously: "Jiang Shaoqing, if you hadn't helped me find it in time this time. Even without the missing military pay, Deputy Envoy Di couldn't beat up the rebels in the north."

"Yeah, it's a good way to rub the spirit of Li Yuanhao, the leader of the rebel army. I don't want to be a vassal king, but I want to stand on my own...?" The ending of another official was a little softer, and he said, "I heard that the Liao Kingdom Knowing that we have won the battle, the envoys sent to the Song Dynasty have changed batch after batch, so I don't know what action to take."

"Haha, they should already know that not only Di Qing, but also divine soldiers are in command in the Great Song Dynasty, so they feel scared too?" The official who spoke vigorously didn't forget to let Jiang Lin into the topic, and talked with him He clinked his glasses and said, "Hey, I heard that Jiang Shaoqing's father is coming back from the Daming Mansion too? Your father's heroic appearance on the battlefield in the early years is really as good as the current Deputy Envoy Di!"

Jiang Lin picked up the wine glass, thinking that this person is quite good at which pot to open and which pot to lift. He was thinking about how to answer the conversation, but he was slapped suddenly.

Looking back, it was Wen Yuan who was smiling brightly.

Wen Yuan lifted up his blue robe, sat directly beside Jiang Lin, and said, "Brother Lin, are you coming to my prince's younger brother's birthday party too?"

Jiang Lin pinched his fingers and did not figure out his nonsensical relationship for a while, so he said, "The little prince is obviously the son of Concubine Miao, so what does it have to do with your family?"

He looked at the high seat, the maid next to Concubine Miao was holding the precious little prince, she was sitting on the left side of the emperor, just like being favored.

"Tsk, why did you count from her? The officials treat my father like a biological brother, and the little prince and I can naturally get in touch..." Seeing that Jiang Lin couldn't stop listening and waved at himself, Wen Yuan He raised his eyebrows and said, "Hey, I just think that my family's male family is prosperous. It's rare for the official family to have a prince of their own. I want him to enjoy my family's happiness."

Hearing what Wen Yuan said, Jiang Lin suddenly remembered that Zhao Zhen in history had never been able to leave any heirs.

Then, the little prince they are going to meet today may also...not live long.

Jiang Lin sighed miserably in his heart, then thought of something, and asked, "Hey, did the official family pick a child from the clan and raise it in the palace?"

"That's right, that child is pitiful. Ever since Concubine Miao was pregnant, she has been worried. Later, when the little prince was born, he was sent home by the officials..." Wen Yuan pointed to the seat in the distance, and said, " Their family also came and sat in the seats over there."

Looking in the direction he pointed, he saw that there seemed to be some kind of special enchantment on that seat, and the people around did not dare to talk to them.

And the little pitiful Wen Yuan was talking about was half covered by the shadow of a tall pillar, and Jiang Lin could only see his robe inlaid with gold threads, and his figure sitting upright.

For some reason, Jiang Lin suddenly felt that the figure looked familiar.

His heart tightened.

"Why are you in a daze?" Wen Yuan on the side poked him, "Hey, there will be fireworks to watch after the banquet later, your location is just right for viewing the scenery, how about Master Ben coming to take a seat with you? "

Jiang Lin nodded absent-mindedly, just as the drums were beating in front of the hall, the performance began.

The performances of this palace banquet are not quite the same as Jiang Lin imagined, not only simple singing and playing the piano, playing guns and dancing, but also experienced entertainers showing various skills with trained beasts, jumping through hoops and jumping hurdles , more patient than a lion in a circus.

But what surprised Jiang Lin the most was not their performance, but the animal that was performing, which was a young giraffe.

The people present should have never seen such an animal, but seeing that the deer is docile, it is hard to say that it is a demon, so they had to look at each other and wait for the animal trainer's explanation.

Unexpectedly, Concubine Zhang Gui, who was sitting on the right side of the emperor, stood up and said, "Your Majesty, this is a mythical beast that my concubine's father accidentally discovered when he went hunting in the mountains. My father asked the master to divination. This beast should be the one in the legend. the auspicious unicorn."

Everyone gasped after listening.

Jiang Lin was also greatly shocked.

The giraffe is obviously a breed* imported from a foreign country, so how could it be possible for Zhang Yaozuo to come across it casually?

Could it be that they wanted to find some auspiciousness for their own benefit when they saw the two four-element secret treasures that they found recently, which made the officials happy...?

Wen Yuan on the side didn't know Zhang Yaozuo's previous behavior, and only commented on Zhang Guifei: "This kind of method of fighting for favor is really vulgar."

Reluctantly, the official family "beauty is in the eye of the beholder", and they don't reject Zhang Guifei's innocuous little thoughts in order to please him.

What's more, this auspicious beast was a birthday present for his precious son.

Zhao Zhen had absolutely no reason not to accept it, he happily asked people to take the "Kirin" to another courtyard, and rewarded Concubine Zhang Gui with many gifts.

All the performances are over, and the fireworks show can start only after everyone drinks for three rounds.

Jiang Lin was thinking about the young man under the shadow of the tall pillar, so he found an excuse to leave the table, and wanted to go around and take a look behind him, but when he got a little closer to that position, the young man got up and left his seat.

Jiang Lin had no choice but to follow the other party out of the courtyard, but lost him unexpectedly.

Just as he was thinking about whether to go back to the gate of the courtyard to block people, a young eunuch suddenly ran up to Jiang Lin and asked, "Jiang Shaoqing? I see that you have been wandering here for a while, but what's the matter?"

Sneaking around in the inner courtyard of the palace is a taboo, so Jiang Lin could only say: "I want to go to the toilet, but I lost my way."

The little eunuch smiled and said, "Then let the little one take you there."

Jiang Lin was still thinking about the young man's figure and demeanor, and didn't pay attention to how far he had followed the little eunuch. When he thought of asking, the eunuch suddenly shot and hit Jiang Lin. right shoulder.

Jiang Lin only blocked it for a while, but was hit in the sleeping hole by the opponent, and passed out completely.

·

A sudden scream woke Jiang Lin up.

He opened his eyes, first he saw many pairs of shoes, and then looked up, standing at the front of the crowd was the official with a gloomy face and Concubine Zhang with a terrified face.

The latter pointed at Jiang Lin's back and said something sharply at him.

Jiang Lin subconsciously looked in the direction she was pointing at—the "Kirin", whose fur was originally gorgeous, now collapsed on the ground with stiff limbs, as if he had completely lost his breath.

Jiang Lin's eyes froze, and his brain slowly processed what the concubine said.

"Jiang Shaoqing, why did you kill the sacred beast unicorn that the concubine gave to the little prince!"