In terms of political acumen, Jiang Yuan is definitely not as good as the seven important ministers, but after all, he has stayed in the court for so many years, and he still has basic intuition.

Just when Wang Wen started to agree with Chen Xun, he realized that he had made a big mistake. This mistake directly pushed him to the edge of the cliff.

This case was originally used by Jiang Yuan to frame Xiao Tan, so he had no relationship with Cheng Zong at all. This fact meant that it was impossible to be caught with evidence.

As long as he cannot be proven to be the mastermind, then the crime will naturally fall on Xiao Fan.

Although things turned out to be twists and turns later, Jiang Yuan never worried too much. The biggest reason was that there was no evidence.

This is what he has been emphasizing just now. No matter how Dali Temple investigates this case, the only evidence that Dali Temple can get is Xiao Ban's testimony.

But according to the logic of criminal cases, this piece of evidence alone is completely insufficient to prove him.

Therefore, he was full of confidence until the morning meeting.

He even sneered at Du Ning's subsequent accusations.

Struggle for power, political struggle?

What a crime!

Jiang Yuan had stayed in the Ministry of Punishment for a long time, and he had some knowledge about punishment and prison. He did not expect that the dignified minister of Dali Temple would use such vague and unsubstantiated charges.

But it soon proved that he was wrong.

Although Du Ning was under siege at the beginning, the situation quickly reversed as Chen Xun came forward.

This was not because Chen Xun was so eloquent and impressive, but because he saw something Jiang Yuan had not seen before.

In the court, what is always important is momentum.

Just now Jiang Yuan questioned Chen Xun, saying that the other party was also taking this opportunity to unite the party against dissenters and conspire with Du Ning to engage in administrative fighting.

This is not Jiang Yuan's nonsense, but something that most courtiers can see through at a glance.

In fact, although Jiang Yuan was angry at the time and did not take into account Chen Xun's identity and spoke a little unscrupulously, this was indeed what he was saying.

This is also a political struggle. What position do you have to accuse me?

Soon he got the answer, but this answer was not given by Chen Xun, but by Wang Wen.

Jiang Yuan knew very well that Wang Wen was a close minister of the emperor.

When Chen Xun first mentioned official administration, he could vaguely realize that Chen Xun's purpose was to win over, or to be more precise, to threaten the Emperor's Party.

To put it bluntly, if Wang Wen did not help Chen Xun, then the reputation of corrupt officialdom might be blamed on the emperor.

However, at that time, he had a doubt. Is there really no way for Wang Wen to accept such a threat?

Or to put it another way, why did Chen Xun have the confidence to put this hat on the emperor's head?

Later, Wang Wen and Chen Yi's successive statements aggravated his confusion, but at that time, he had no time to think about it.

But just now, although Wang Wen was dissatisfied, he still obviously stood by Chen Xun's attitude, but Jiang Yuan suddenly became enlightened.

He found that he had overlooked something very important!

That is, neither Wang Wen nor Chen Yi had any intention to deny the authenticity of the imperial examination fraud case from the beginning.

At the beginning, Jiang Yuan felt that this was forced by Chen Xun, and Wang Wen and Chen Yi had to compromise.

But if you think about it carefully, it's obviously not the case.

This is not the result of what Chen Xun did, but precisely the reason why Wang Wen and others stand on the same side as Chen Xun.

What did Wang Wen just say?

"...In this way, we old guys are short-sighted and ignorant..."

For the first time, the examination papers were graded by them, the examiners, and for the second time, the elders like Liu Bu and Qi Qing took charge in person.

Wang Wen's words were obviously ironic, but they made Jiang Yuan realize a very important point.

That is, from the very beginning, his direction was wrong, a big mistake!

He, including other record readers, had always felt that it was impossible for Dali Temple to produce detailed evidence, so it was impossible to convict them.

So what they always think about is how to escape guilt!

But this is precisely the key point... Dali Temple does not need evidence at all!

The results of two markings are the best evidence.

Since there is such a big difference in the results of these two examinations, then one party must be wrong. The wrong person cannot be these six ministers and seven ministers, so it can only be them.

This was already determined from the moment the results came out.

He always wanted to use the excuse of "lack of knowledge and different opinions" to get through and prove that this was just an accident.

But Wang Wen's attitude completely poured cold water on him.

Again, Wang Wen is the emperor's confidant, so to a large extent, his attitude represents the emperor's attitude.

This is also what Jiang Yuan regrets the most. How could he forget that this case was "investigated" by the emperor himself!

No matter whose hands this case ends up in, the so-called imperial examination fraud has been something that the emperor has determined from the beginning.

This point cannot be overturned unless the emperor himself speaks out.

Whether it is Dali Temple or everything done by Chen Xun, Wang Wen, Chen Yi and others, they are all based on this foundation.

In other words, Jiang Yuan believed that the weakest point of Dali Temple was precisely the strongest and most irreversible point.

If you go in the wrong direction, you will lose everything.

The more fiercely he resists on this point, the more he will incur the dissatisfaction of Wang Wen and other members of the emperor's party.

This is not a conspiracy, but an obvious conspiracy. Chen Xun is not threatening Wang Wen, let alone threatening the emperor. He just sees the emperor's intention, so he pulls the banner and makes Wang Wen wait.

People just have to help him.

This method is the most terrifying in official circles.

Because it has almost exhausted the room for Wang Wen and others to move around. Above the court, especially at the level of Qi Qing, everyone is outstanding in terms of means, character, connections and qualifications.

When the two sides compete, no one can say that they are 100% sure of winning, because you never know what cards the other side has.

But Chen Xun's move, no matter how powerful Wang Wen's methods were or how strong his temper, he had no room to use.

Therefore, even if Chen Xunming pretends to be a scapegoat, even if Wang Wen, an unruly old guy, is full of anger, he still has to follow the route drawn by Chen Xun.

As the saying goes, once you understand this, you will naturally understand many things that Jiang Yuan couldn't understand at first.

It's still the same issue. It's also a political struggle. Why do you, Chen Xun, accuse me, Jiang Yuan?

The answer is that political struggle and political struggle are different!

In the palace examination case, Jiang Yuan did not use any clandestine means that went beyond the rules of the court. Although he was said to have framed Xiao Fan, it can only be said that Xiao Fan did not have enough political vision and was greedy, so he stepped into it.

Trap, no one else to blame.

This time the court meeting was actually the same to some extent. Although Chen Xun and Du Ning had different methods, in a strict sense they were still engaged in political struggle and had their own political goals.

This is also Jiang Yuan's confidence, or one of his biggest doubts. Since everyone is fighting for politics and none of them have violated the court's taboos, why should he be questioned in all kinds of ways, while Chen Xun and others can openly accuse him?

he?

Jiang Yuan never understood it before, but now he understands it.

If Wang Wen's words awakened him from his delusion, then Chen Xun's "serious words and thoughtful words" at the end almost made it clear.

Political struggle is not just a place where everyone can rely on their own abilities without resorting to clandestine means.

More importantly, we must know the general trend.

Political struggle itself is not wrong. In the court, intrigues and mutual strife are commonplace, and can even be said to happen all the time.

This is what Chen Xun actually meant when he said, "...Conflicts of opinion...It is not uncommon to make mistakes...".

So, why can Chen Xun do it, but Jiang Yuan can’t?

Because he made the biggest mistake, that is, taking the so-called court rules more seriously than the emperor!

To put it more bluntly, these so-called rules of political struggle in the court are used to restrain the courtiers, but they are not used to restrain the emperor.

In court battles, there will be winners and losers. This is an eternal truth.

But regardless of who wins or loses, it refers to the courtiers who participated in the battle. The emperor is beyond this system.

Although the palace examination case and today's court meeting are both political struggles, the biggest difference between them is that what Chen Xun wants to fight is Jiang Yuan, or it is also possible that they are the ten file readers. Who are they, Jiang Yuan?

Yuan can no longer understand.

But one thing he knew clearly was that no matter how they fought, it had nothing to do with the emperor.

However, in the palace examination case, the reason why the emperor was furious, and why all the important officials nailed the case from the beginning that fraud was a fact and someone must be held responsible, was because of Chen Xun's last words.

"...Deceive the emperor, coerce the courtiers to surrender, are these acts of arrogance of power that a minister should do?"

Admittedly, Chen Xun's statement was a bit exaggerated, but he reminded Jiang Yuan that although he was plotting against Xiao Ban, the methods he used had actually threatened the emperor's power.

Although Jiang Yuan had already planned to expose Xiao Hao later.

However, this was his idea. For the emperor, the fact that Cheng Zong's test paper could be placed at the top of the emperor's desk proved one point.
To be continued...