Nightwatcher

Emperor Yuan Jing lightly tossed the red-approved booklet to the old eunuch, and said with a smile: "Big Companion, tell me, is there any cheating in this Yuan Xu New Year?"

The old eunuch took the notebook, glanced at it quickly, and said: "This old servant is stupid, but this old servant feels that there is indeed something strange about this matter."

Emperor Yuan Jing stared at him for a few seconds, and ordered: "Order the government office and the Ministry of Punishment to handle this case, and make sure to find out the truth."

When the old eunuch was ordered to retreat, Emperor Yuan Jing sat on the dragon chair, looked at the blue sky outside the imperial study, and suddenly smiled: "Three birds with one stone."

The old eunuch in the boa robe left the imperial study room, lowered his head and walked sprintly. After walking a hundred meters, he patted his chest in shock, with a gloomy expression:

"You still ask me Wei Yuan, Wei Yuan, it's not that our family doesn't help you, our family's life is the most important thing."

Soon after, the decree from the palace was passed to the Ministry of Punishment and the government office respectively.

Sun Shangshu of the Ministry of Punishment seemed to have expected it long ago. After receiving the order, he immediately sent people to arrest Xu Nian.

Chen Fu Yin received the order from the palace, sighed and shook his head: "When the wind and the waves break, sometimes you are afraid that a big wave will hit you and destroy your ship."

He immediately called for Shao Yin, and said in a deep voice: "Send someone to arrest Xu Nian immediately and bring him back to the Yamen for interrogation. You must send someone to inform Xu Yinluo before the Ministry of Punishment."

Xu Mansion.

It was a warm spring day, and Xu Nian asked someone to place his desk under the shade of a tree. The sun shone through the branches and leaves, mottled on the table, the books, and his handsome face.

Tea cups and pastries are on hand.

My aunt brought Xu Lingyue and Xu Lingyin, and Lina who was staying at home, and was about to go out to play.

Lina saw Xu Nian under the tree, and praised generously: "Xu Erlang is so handsome, if he was in our tribe, women would beat him to death for snatching him."

My aunt immediately became vigilant, as if she saw a sow trying to push her own cabbage.

Is this little black skin from southern Xinjiang implying that she is interested in Erlang? Bah, wishful thinking, the toad wants to eat swan meat.

Aunt's beautiful eyes scratched Lina, and urged: "It's getting late, let's go out earlier."

This trip without a follower, even a hundred follower is no match for a little Heipi from Southern Xinjiang, the strength of the little Heipi was certified by Xu Ershu and Xu Dalang.

My aunt also witnessed with her own eyes that Xiao Heipi crushed a fist-sized rock into powder with ease.

Lina immediately forgot about the handsome Xu Erlang, and walked out in a hurry. She couldn't wait to take a stroll around Dafeng Capital.

When I was in southern Xinjiang, I often heard the elders in the tribe talk about Dafengjing City, the most prosperous city in the world.

"The dead girl eats too much, and she still has bad thoughts about my Erlang, I have to find a way to drive her away," the aunt thought to herself.

This foreign woman who fell from the sky aroused her aunt's xenophobic thoughts.

She was planning how to drive away the foreign women, when she saw a group of officers and soldiers rushing in, pushing the porter Lao Zhang to the ground, and heading straight for the inner courtyard.

The head catcher held a portrait in his hand, compared it, pointed to Xu Nian who was reading under the shade of a tree, and shouted: "This person is Xu Nian, take it down."

"Who are you? Why are you arresting my family Erlang?" The aunt turned pale with fright. Out of the mentality of protecting the calf, she did not hesitate and stood in front of the officers and soldiers with her brows raised.

"The Ministry of Criminal Justice arrests someone, do you dare to stop them? Take them away together!" The head catcher waved his hand and ordered his subordinates to arrest Auntie.

The two officials stepped forward immediately, took out the rope and put it on the aunt's head.

"boom!"

Lina took a step forward and gently pushed on the chests of the two officers. "Ah!" With two screams, the officer flew out and fell to pieces.

Clang!

The officials drew their weapons one after another, and pointed their blades at Lina. The little barbarian girl in southern Xinjiang licked her lips, a little excited. She could kill all these people within ten breaths.

My aunt hid behind Lina in a state of shock, and suddenly found that this little black skin was so reliable and worth relying on.

"stop."

Xu Nian scolded, put down the scroll and walked over, glanced coldly at the officials, and said in a deep voice:

"I'm Huiyuan, and I have a great reputation. It's a serious crime for you to break into my mansion and use your blade rashly."

At this time, the two officials who were beaten into the air stood up rubbing their chests. The head catcher saw that they were normal, and he groaned for a while, put away the knife, took out a card ticket, and said:

"We were ordered by the Ministry of Punishment to bring Xu Huiyuan back to the Yamen for questioning."

Xu Nian frowned and said, "What did Xu do?"

"Xu Huiyuan will know if he comes with us." The head catcher waved his hand and shouted, "Take him away."

Lina just wanted to make a move, but was stopped by Xu Xinnian, who greeted the official of the Ministry of Punishment: "I'll go with you."

Aunt and Xu Lingyue chased outside the house until the officer escorted Xu Xinnian to disappear at the intersection.

Lina whispered, "Xu Erlang also robbed money?"

She knew that robbing money would be captured by officers and soldiers.

At this time, the concierge Lao Zhang brought Xu Xinian's horse and said, "Madam, miss, this old slave will send someone to inform the master."

Auntie and Xu Lingyue turned around at the same time, and shouted, "Go and find Da Lang (big brother)."

"What? An official from the Ministry of Punishment came to the mansion to arrest Erlang?"

In the yamen, Xu Qi'an was stunned when he received the news, a little caught off guard.

"Da Lang, think of a solution quickly, the madam and miss are crying in a hurry." The son of the concierge Lao Zhang looked anxious.

"Why arrest?"

Lao Zhang's son shook his head and said, "Suddenly a group of officers and soldiers rushed in and pushed my father around. They arrested Erlang and left."

"I see, you go back first." Xu Qi'an ordered: "Tell Auntie and Lingyue not to worry, I will deal with this matter."

"Da Lang, you have to go back and talk to them yourself," said the son of the porter Lao Zhang.

Xu Qi'an nodded, waved him away, sat at the table, pondered for a moment, got up and left Yidaotang, intending to go to the Criminal Department, first to find out why the Criminal Department wanted to arrest Xu Erlang.

"It's not that the Minister of the Ministry of Justice is deliberately finding fault in order to vent his anger on his niece. If this is the case, it will be easy to solve. Erlang has a reputation, and ordinary trivial matters can't help him

"However, the behavior style of the big bosses in the court, even if they want to vent their anger on their niece, they will not arrest people for no reason.

"So Erlang must have messed with something, but I don't know yet"

Thinking in his heart, he came out of the yard and was about to turn his head to the stable to bring the filly, when he saw Lu Qing, the chief catcher of the government office, hurried into the yard with two fast hands.

"Master Xu."

The two sides met head-on, Lu Qing showed joy, and was replaced by anxiety, and said repeatedly: "The governor asked me to inform you that Xu Huiyuan is in trouble."

"I know, he was taken away not long ago by people from the Ministry of Punishment." Xu Qi'an nodded calmly.

"It seems that the people from the Ministry of Punishment are one step faster." Lu Qing sighed.

"Come here, Butou Lu, I have something to ask."

Xu Qi'an dismissed the idea of ​​going to the stable, and led Lu Qing back to Yidaotang.

Lu Qing took the tea offered by the officials, took a symbolic sip, and said straight to the point: "Your Majesty has issued an order to investigate Xu Huiyuan's imperial examination fraud."

The word "fraud in the imperial examination" made Xu Qi'an's eyebrows twitch.

I did give Erlang the song "The Road Is Difficult" to him, but does this count as cheating in the imperial examination? I bet on the exam questions. The imperial court does not support this kind of betting, but it has never banned it. There is often a custom of betting on questions in the Confucianism. Strictly speaking, it is not considered cheating. The question itself is not cheating.

Xu Qi'an smelled the breath of conspiracy, and said in a deep voice: "Your Majesty wants to investigate?"

Lu Qing glanced at the officials in the hall, and said in a low voice: "I don't know, Master Xu, don't speculate."

"I made a slip of the tongue."

But this is very important. If Emperor Yuan Jing wanted to engage Erlang, it would be difficult to deal with it. Erlang's future was almost ruined. The goods are from the emperor's house, if the emperor's house doesn't want it, the scholars will waste it. Xu Qi said with peace of mind.

"Thank you Catcher Lu for reminding me, I am in a hurry to deal with this matter, so it is inconvenient to keep you."

"Master Xu, give me a favor." Lu Qing pointed out.

The two left Yidaotang and walked out of the mansion side by side. Lu Qing lowered his voice and said:

"Master Xu, it's best to go to the Ministry of Criminal Justice. Once he is in the hands of the Ministry of Criminal Justice, he will be manipulated by others. It's too late, and I'm afraid everything will be recruited. That's all for now."

Lu Qing practiced martial arts since he was a child, and has worked in the government office for many years. He has seen many similar cases and knows all about the tricks in officialdom.

After sending Lu Qing away, Xu Qi'an turned his head and entered the Haoqi Building, asking Wei Yuan for help.

His intuition told him that this matter was not that simple. He was inexperienced and not well-ranked due to the intrigue in the officialdom, and his rank was not high enough. Fortunately, he had a big thick leg to hug.

After entering Haoqi Building, in the tea room, Xu Qi'an told Wei Yuan about the matter, and asked for help: "Please teach me, Mr. Wei."

Holding the teacup, Wei Yuan pondered, "I haven't received any notification from the palace, which means that His Majesty doesn't want me to know, at least not right away."

Xu Qi'an's expression changed: "Your Majesty wants to mess with me?"

"How vulgar is this word." Wei Yuan said in disgust, then shook his head: "You brothers of the Xu family are not qualified to let His Majesty go off in person, you should be impeached.

"As for the purpose, first of all, according to the examples of previous imperial examination fraud cases, since it is fraud, there must be an examiner leaking the questions. The three chief examiners in Chunwei this time are Zhao Tingfang, a scholar of Dongge University, Liu Hong, Yushi of Youdu, and Wu Ying. Dian University scholar Qian Qingshu. Ignore the rest of the small miscellaneous fish for the time being.

"Among the three examiners who may leak the questions, Qian Qingshu is excluded first."

Xu Qi'an frowned: "Why?"

Wei Yuan replied: "The impeachment memorial must go through the cabinet first. The cabinet is Wang Zhenwen's territory, and Qian Qingshu is Wang Zhenwen's man. Do you understand?"

Wang Shoufu didn't type back the memorial, which means that this matter has nothing to do with Qian Qingshu Xu Qi'an nodded: "Understood."

Wei Yuan continued: "Secondly, your cousin Xu Nian is a member of Yunlu Academy. Although there are many factions in the court, it is a tacit understanding among all civil officials to jointly suppress the scholars of Yunlu Academy. This, this time The main reason for imperial examination fraud.”

"Didn't the great scholars of Yunlu Academy remind me?" Xu Qi'an frowned.

"Encountering oppression is inevitable, but it may not be based on cheating in the imperial examination. Even if Xu Xinian wins the first prize, he can still be swept away. There are no fixed methods, and there are too many methods. How to guard against it?" Wei Yuan shook his head.

"Finally, Xu Nian is your cousin, and you are my confidant. Will you ask me for help when you encounter important matters related to your future? If I don't answer, there will be a rift between us. If I answer, follow-up The trick is coming." Wei Yuan sneered and said:

"Our Majesty is happy to see me fighting with the civil servants, so the news from the palace has not been spread."

Kill two birds with one stone No, if there is still the examiner who leaked the questions, the person behind it will kill three birds with one stone. As for Erlang, involved in the imperial examination fraud case, there are no more than three endings: First, the evidence is solid, exile or beheaded. Second, the evidence is solid, but the crime is relatively light, and the meritorious service will be dismissed, and he will not be hired for life. Three, after the investigation, he was not guilty, but he missed the palace examination and his reputation was ruined.

Xu Qi'an took a deep breath, his head was as big as a bucket.

Scholars are really disgusting. If there is any conflict, let's draw our swords and fight it out. It's so straightforward.

All these furtive and insidious tricks.

"Wei Gong, what should I do?" Xu Qi'an humbly asked for advice, and he was full of confidence in solving the case. When it comes to official battles, he is a silver bullet facing a group of kings.

Fortunately, there is also a big boss at the peak of the king behind me.

"I can end, but in this way, Xu New Year will be mine, and the label on him will never be washed off." Wei Yuan looked at him warmly while drinking tea.

This matter is very troublesome. Even if Wei Gong takes action to help Erlang escape, I am afraid it will hurt his muscles and bones. After all, the opposite party is not a party, and it may be a tacit understanding between multiple parties.

Moreover, if Erlang becomes an eunuch like me, it would be better for him to leave his hometown and leave the capital

Xu Qi'an frowned, sat quietly for a long time, and said in a shy voice: "Wei Gong, is there any other way?"

"have!"

Xu Qi'an was both pleasantly surprised and surprised by this answer.

But Wei Yuan changed the subject, shook his head and said, "But you can't do it."

PS: Correct me, the big guy "SeanGhoust" tipped 230,000 instead of 190,000. I made a mistake in the last chapter.

In addition, I have encountered some bad things recently. I didn't sleep all night last night. After sleeping for four hours during the day, I got up to type. Then I was not in the mood to code.

Fortunately, it was the weekend, otherwise I was really afraid that I would die suddenly. Just an update today, hey.

Don't worry, the words owed today will be made up tomorrow, and what you say is what you say.

By the way, this case was inspired by Tang Yin's imperial examination fraud case, so it's not a fabrication. I have checked a lot of information on imperial examination fraud, and there is conclusive evidence, but there are also many cases where there is no evidence, but their lives have been ruined.

Get a vaccination first, lest some readers think it is unreasonable.