Dressed as Su Peisheng

Kangxi 50 years

On the seventh day of June, the Ministry of Rites

Even Xiao was blocked by Grand Eunuch Su, but he didn't dare to choke.After all, everyone saw Prince Yong's act of protecting his shortcomings just now.

"My lord, what are you going to do?" Wang Xuling was hit so hard that she could hardly stand up.

The fourth elder brother raised his hand and asked Wang Bingtu to take Mr. Wang to the steps to take a rest.

"I've asked all the questions I should ask you these days, and I think you all know what happened." The fourth elder brother said to the few people kneeling on the ground.

"My lord, I won't ask any other questions today. I just want you to think about it. There is a problem with the meeting volume of the two candidates. The Zhujuan and Mojuan are inconsistent. And you are responsible for copying and proofreading. The masters conspired to cheat, so what went wrong?"

Prince Yong's question was really strange. Not only were the people kneeling on the ground confused for a moment, but the Wang family father and son, Jiang Tingxi, Akton and others who were watching were also puzzled.

After thinking for a long time, among the kneeling people, one who looked the youngest suddenly raised his head and said, "The guilty minister has read Zhu Juan before, and it is indeed copied by the guilty minister himself! Then, if the problem is not caused by Zhu Juan It is on the ink scroll! The Zhu scroll is real, but the ink scroll is fake!"

"Bullshit!"

Lian Xiao yelled, "The ink scrolls are sealed after proofreading, so how can they be faked? The examiners have already checked the papers, so what's the use of fake ink scrolls? Don't just talk nonsense here just to avoid guilt." language!"

"Yes, my lord, if the ink scroll is fake, it will not be good for Juzi, it doesn't make sense," Jiang Tingxi didn't think much about it.

Prince Yong shook his head and continued, "Let's not care about the purpose of the person who did it first, but simply think about it. Someone changed the ink scrolls, which caused the ink scrolls to be inconsistent. Is it feasible?"

"After the ink scroll came out of the transcription office, it was sealed in the outer palm, and it was not sent to the Ministry of Rites until the grinding began. If you want to exchange it, it can only be in the outer palm or the Ministry of Rites. Logically speaking, it is not impossible Possibly." Wang Bingtu said.

"However, there are half of the red seals on the outer skin of the vermilion ink scroll. These seals are all codes, and the three hundred copies are different. The original text of the codes can only be found by Mi Feng. When the ink scrolls were collected from the outside and sent to the Ministry of Rites, we followed the original code. Those who checked Zhu Yin’s codes did not find any discrepancies.” Jiang Tingxi followed up with analysis.

"Then, there are only two possibilities. One is that the people from Waishouzhang colluded with Mi Fengsuo, stole the ink scroll, and used the original code to forge it. The other is that during the milling period, the original code and the vermilion ink scroll were in the Ministry of Rites. And the one who did it is among us..." Acton also spoke, but he was a little timid.

Wang Xuling was also relieved at this time, he supported Wang Bingtu's hand and stood up, "Right now, the lord must have made a decision in his heart. If the lord doubts the subject, the subject is willing to accept the interrogation!"

"Father!"

Wang Bingtu became a little anxious when he heard this, and quickly knelt down to Prince Yong and said, "My lord, please understand my father's old age, and I am willing to stand trial for my father!"

"The Wang family is worthy of a strong character, and this king admires it very much." The fourth elder brother turned his head to look at Wang Hongxu, "I think Mr. Wang is willing to cooperate, too?"

Wang Hongxu's pupils flickered, he took half a step back, and stopped again, "If the prince doubts, I will naturally be willing. However, you are going to interrogate the officials of the court based on such absurd guesses. It’s hard to justify yourself, right?”

"Why does the king need to justify himself?" Prince Yong smiled lightly, "This king only needs one result. It can maintain the justice of the imperial examination. What does it matter if you hurt a few court officials?"

As if in response to Prince Yong's words, the guards led by Fu Nai slowly spread out and surrounded the gate of the Ministry of Rites.

Lian Xiao, the prime minister of the Shuntian Mansion, turned pale first, "My lord, you can't do this! The ink scrolls don't match, you don't investigate the matter of cheating, but you want to accuse the officials of Mokan. What's the reason?"

"What's the point?"

Prince Yong turned around and faced Lian Xiao, "I just want to ask, what is the reason for hiding a scrollable seal in your room?"

"What?" Lian Xiao was stunned for a moment.

Over there, Su Wei took out a piece of sealed paper from his pocket, which was familiar to everyone present, "This was found from Mr. Lian's room."

"This is a paper that can be rolled!" Jiang Tingxi walked up to Su Wei to check.

"How is this possible?" Lian Xiao panicked for a moment, "How could there be such a thing in my room!"

"It's just a piece of paper," Wang Hongxu said immediately, "What can you prove? You can roll [-] copies and unpack it every day. Even if your lord accidentally takes a piece of paper back, what's the point?"

"Yes, yes," Lian Xiao's lips trembled a little, "It may have been carried back by accident, I didn't mean it."

Seeing that Prince Yong didn't speak again for a while, Wang Hongxu continued, "My lord wants to prove that the ink scroll is wrong, so it's better to show direct evidence. Otherwise, it doesn't make sense in terms of emotion and reason, even if the lord tortures us, If there is nothing, there is nothing. When the news gets out, won’t it make the court laugh out loud?”

"Direct evidence..."

Jiang Tingxi held the sealing paper in his hand, and turned his head to look at the ceremonial department, which had lost all light, "If the Zhu ink scroll is still there, even if it is a forgery, as long as the people from the Mifeng Office come to inspect it carefully, they will be able to tell the difference." out."

"Hmph," Wang Hongxu chuckled, "It's a pity that everything was wiped out in a big fire. My minister advises the prince not to find a new way. The matter of cheating is a certainty. If the prince really wants to properly explain to the Long Live Lord, or From that Juzi—"

"Who said there is no evidence?" Grand Duke Su suddenly said, interrupting Wang Hongxu, "Didn't Master Jiang say that as long as the people from the Mifeng Institute come to see it, no matter how authentic the imitation is, you can tell the difference."

"Distinguish? What do you use to distinguish?" Lian Xiao's face was flushed, and his eyes were a little protruding.

Eunuch Su smiled slightly, raised his hands and clapped.

People's footsteps came again from inside the gate of the Ministry of Rites. Everyone followed the prestige and saw Zhang Bao, another father-in-law of Prince Yong's mansion, came out with a few guards carrying two large wooden boxes.

"This is..." Wang Xuling had a faint premonition.

Zhang Baochong bowed to the crowd, and raised his hand to let the guards open the lid of the box.

"It will roll!"

Mrs. Wang rushed forward almost with her whole body, and Wang Bingtu, Jiang Tingxi and others also hurriedly surrounded them. There were [-] copies of Huijuan neatly stacked in two wooden boxes, and there was no shortage of Zhujuan and Mojuan.

The faces of Wang Hongxu and Lian Xiao turned pale in an instant.

"Our lord has long felt that something was wrong, so before going out, people dropped the bags in the back hall. Those burned were just some old scrolls."

Zhang Bao thoughtfully explained to the ministers.

Of course, he didn't say that it was his father-in-law Su who first discovered the clues, and that the sealed paper was not found in Lian Xiao's room, but in the courtyard behind the library.

After getting the seal, the prince guessed that someone was secretly exchanging the scrolls in front of the library, but at the beginning, he couldn't be sure whether it was the vermilion scrolls or the ink scrolls.

It will be lost and recovered, and the officials in the grinding process are all very excited except for the two who have ulterior motives.

"My lord, call the people from the Mifeng Office, and they will soon be able to find out whether the ink scroll is real." Jiang Tingxi said.

Prince Yong nodded, and sent guards to seal the caller.

In the evening, the grinding officials with different thoughts waited for the inspection results of the Mi Feng Office in the lobby of the front yard of the Ministry of Rites.

"My lord, these two ink scrolls are indeed forged."

There was a moment of silence in the lobby, and the wronged officials of the transcription office and proofreading office were almost crying.

Although Wang Xuling and the others had heard Prince Yong's judgment before, they were somewhat skeptical, but in the end they did not expect that there was really a problem with the ink scroll.

"Yes, but why is this?"

Wang Bingtu was confused. Changing the ink rolls had nothing to do with cheating. What was the purpose?

Wang Xuling pressed his son's hand and shook his head at him. At this time, Mrs. Wang already understood.

The purpose of this matter is not the two candidates, nor the fairness of the imperial examination. It is a game, a carefully calculated trap, and its goal has always been only one-Prince Yong.

If Prince Yong didn't think about this, and really tortured the two examiners, and then involved the officials of the transcription office and the proofreading office, it would not only make the whole court uneasy, but also make the court lose face among the people.

And at the end of the matter, as long as someone presents the two missing ink scrolls, everything will be revealed.

At that time, Prince Yong will not only become the laughing stock of the common people, but also become the object of verbal criticism among civil and military officials and poor students!

The poison of this plan, after careful consideration, is really frightening.

After hearing the report from Mi Fengsuo, Prince Yong kept his eyes half closed and did not speak.

Lian Xiao, who was sitting in the last seat, was already so stiff that his fingers couldn't even hold the armrests of the chair.

Wang Hongxu winked at him again and again, and the air in the room became heavier and heavier. If this continues, Lian Xiao will probably recruit before Prince Yong asks.

Wang Hongxu gritted his teeth, and said firstly, "My lord, don't forget that the loss of the ink scroll may also be the fault of Wai Shuzhang and Mi Feng. If you want to investigate, you must not let one go."

The official of the Mifeng Institute who had just reported this, fell to his knees with a plop when he heard this. Volume, I really don’t know.”

"To forge ink scrolls, you need to seal the original code of the institute. How do you know if any of you are in collusion with someone who is in charge, stealing ink scrolls, and forging them in private!" Wang Hongxu's righteous words scared the people in the hall shivering.

"The ministers absolutely dare not do this. We don't know which ink scroll the original code of Mifengsuo corresponds to. We have to get it up close and correspond one by one. It’s not easy, and it’s not too dangerous to get the [-] copies of the original code of Mi Feng’s office and compare them one by one. Who can do it!"

"You can't think of it, it doesn't mean there is no..."

"Okay," Prince Yong opened his eyes and interrupted Wang Hongxu, "I know who did it, I know well, so don't you need your lord to worry about this king."

The corner of Wang Hongxu's mouth twitched slightly, and he sat back on the chair without speaking again.

"Lian Xiao!"

"My lord!" Lian Xiao knelt down on the ground with a plop, and walked to the middle of the room, "My lord, my humble servant—"

"Ahem!" Wang Hongxu coughed twice suddenly.

Lian Xiao's face was pale, and his body slumped on the ground, but he stopped talking for a while.

Prince Yong's eyes fell on Wang Hongxu's unintentional face, and he nodded lightly, "Okay, okay..."