Chapter 394 The Imperial Examination Fraud Case (1)
Kaiyuan 4335 (1638 AD), October 28th.
Huang Songwen, a scholar who came to the capital to take the exam, was waiting anxiously in the inn room.
“Brother Bogu, why is this year’s release date later than last year’s?
At this time, Gongyuan still hasn’t released the results.”
Wei Bogu looked leisurely, eating peanuts and drinking some wine.
Seeing Huang Songwen's nervous expression, he smiled calmly and said: "Brother Songwen, why are you so anxious?
The imperial examination has been completed. Whether or not you will be admitted as a Jinshi has been determined.
No matter how anxious we are, we cannot change what is destined.
This year's imperial examination is different from last year, which is normal.
The examiner of this year's imperial examination is no longer Prime Minister Wang Zhongce, but the new left minister of the Ministry of Rites, Xia Wenshu.
Maybe Mr. Xia is not proficient in his work, so the grading time is a bit long."
Huang Songwen's curiosity was aroused by Wei Bogu, and he asked in surprise: "Brother Bogu, we have been together since we took the imperial examination in Beijing.
Brother Bogu, how do you know so many things?"
Wei Bogu took a few sips of his wine, shook his head and said, "Brother Songwen, you don't look like a nerd.
If you don't care about current affairs and just study hard, you won't be able to get good grades in the Imperial College even if you really pass the Jinshi exam.
You need to know something about officialdom and current affairs, we will all be high officials in the future."
When Wei Bogu said this, he stood up and walked to the door.
He looked at no one outside the room and closed the door.
Wei Bogu returned to his seat and whispered: "This time the imperial court did not choose Prime Minister Wang Zhongce to preside over the imperial examination.
There are two possibilities. One possibility is that Prime Minister Wang Zhongce lost the holy scroll.
However, it seems that the current cabinet is in stable governance and there are no other problems.
This should not be the case in the court.
The second situation is that the Ministry of Rites is fighting for power with the cabinet.
As the direct superior of the six ministries, the cabinet would not have such a problem under normal circumstances.
However, if there are a few powerful men from the Ministry of Rites, they can also use the authority of the Six Ministries to compete with the cabinet for power.
In the early Ming Dynasty, orthodox official positions were very low. Only the chief ministers of the cabinet who were granted the title of bachelor could directly vacate the emperor.
I don't think Mr. Xia Wenxia is so superb in his methods.
That can only be the third situation. Prime Minister Wang is distracted by more important things.
The court should focus its main experience on other things.
This year's imperial examinations, relatively speaking, are not taken seriously by the imperial court."
When Wei Bogu said this, his voice was so low that Huang Songwen, who was next to him, couldn't hear him clearly.
He continued: "Song Kangnian Shenyin, the minister of the Ministry of Rites, and Tian Jiapeng, the right minister of the Ministry of Rites, mainly manage science and education, a new field.
Even the Academy of Sciences, primary schools and universities have never been involved in matters related to the imperial examination.
This new Mr. Xia Wenxia, who has just become the left minister of the Ministry of Rites, can become the examiner, which is not easy."
Huang Songwen's eyes widened and he didn't understand what he was hearing.
The twists and turns of officialdom are too complicated for him.
He just wants to pass the Jinshi examination, cultivate his moral integrity, govern the country and bring peace to the world.
The waiter in the restaurant suddenly shouted loudly in the courtyard.
"The results of Gongyuan are open."
When Huang Songwen heard the long-lost news, he immediately stood up excitedly.
"Brother Bogu, let's go to Gongyuan immediately and the results are finally open.
Waiting for this period of time is really painful.”
Wei Bogu sat on the table and chair without moving at all.
He looked at the anxious Huang Songwen and said with a calm expression: "Brother Songwen, don't be anxious, it's useless to be anxious now.
Only 150 people are admitted to Jinshi every year, and they are announced in Yanhuang Daily.
Nowadays, there are too many scholars outside Gongyuan, and the inn where we are staying is also some distance away from Gongyuan.
By the time we arrived at Gongyuan, we would definitely be at the outermost edge of the crowd.
It will take a long time for us to see the imperial list.
In order to understand as soon as possible whether the two of us are highly Jinshi.
I have ordered a copy of Yanhuang Daily and will know soon whether we have passed the Jinshi examination."
Wei Bogu had already found out clearly and ordered the Yanhuang Daily. This was the most convenient way.
But there are always some scholars who are not at ease unless they see their name on the imperial list.
When Huang Songwen heard what his friend Wei Bogu said, he continued to sit on the chair and wait.
I felt very anxious and looked restless.
They waited for a short while, and the waiter at the inn brought the latest issue of "Yanhuang Daily".
When Huang Songwen heard the waiter knocking on the door, he immediately ran out and opened the door.
Quickly grab the newspaper from the inn waiter.
Huang Songwen didn't care about other information. He immediately opened the page of the new Jinshi.
"Huang Bingming, Huang Shanquan, Huang Qifang..."
After looking back and forth, he saw the last Jinshi named Huang, but he still didn't find his name.
Huang Songwen let out a long sigh and said, "I failed, so I can only wait until next year to compete again."
When Wei Bogu heard Huang Songwen's emotion, he also sighed.
"Brother Songwen failed the exam. My literary talent is not as good as that of Brother Songwen, so I will probably fail the exam too."
After the scientific examination, the two of them answered each other's questions.
Huang Songwen's level is better than Wei Bogu's.
Wei Bogu always believed that Huang Songwen could be a Jinshi in high school.
It's just that he is not tactful and is not good at being an official.
After the Imperial Examination, it will be very difficult to take charge of the government.
Wei Bogu took the newspaper and read it from cover to cover.
"How is this possible? I am actually one hundred and thirty-two, and I am a Jinshi in high school.
Brother Songwen, we are all Jinshi majors. There will not be any differences in professional knowledge caused by one person being a Jinshi major and the other being a criminal law major, which will cause problems in the final ranking.
Brother Songwen's level is one level higher than mine, and he didn't perform abnormally in this imperial examination, so how could he fail?"
When Huang Songwen heard that Wei Bogu was a Jinjin Scholar in high school, he first congratulated Wei Bogu.
He then asked with doubt: "Brother Bogu, you are saying there is something wrong with my paper."
Wei Bogu nodded and said: "In all dynasties, scholars' papers have been lost.
In other dynasties, if a scholar's papers were lost, he could only consider himself unlucky.
I don’t know if it’s because I lost the paper or because I didn’t perform well.”
Wei Bogu cupped his hands facing the direction of the Forbidden City and said respectfully: "Thanks to the Lord Long's grace, after the imperial examination of the new dynasty, scholars can check their papers.
The test papers for Jinshi will also be published nationwide through newspapers, making them available to everyone.
Tomorrow morning, I will accompany Brother Songwen to Gongyuan to check your papers.
If the paper is really lost, then there is a major mistake in the Ministry of Rites.
There is no precedent for this kind of thing, but if this kind of thing does happen, I believe that the Holy One will definitely give an explanation to the scholars."
Huang Songwen now wants to go to Gongyuan to check the papers.
But now there are too many people in the Gongyuan, most of them are scholars looking at the rankings, and they have no chance to check the papers.
Huang Songwen looked nervous, thinking about what he might encounter tomorrow.
He had a simple dinner and lay in bed tossing and turning at night, unable to sleep at all.
Early the next morning, Huang Songwen got up with thick dark circles under his eyes.
When Wei Bogu saw his friend like this, he knew that Huang Songwen had not slept all night.
No one can sleep with this kind of thing happening to them.
Gongyuan will check the papers. Once there are no problems in the papers, they can only accept the fact that they failed.
Huang Songwen and Wei Bogu rushed to Gongyuan in a carriage.
When the results were released yesterday, the Gongyuan was airtight, but today only a few scholars came here in twos and threes.
Like Huang Songwen, they did not give up after failing the exam and came to Gongyuan to check the papers.
After Huang Songwen lined up, he politely said to the official on duty: "Sir, this is my candidate number. I want to check my papers for this scientific examination."
The matter went smoothly, and the officials of Gongyuan asked him to wait.
Huang Songwen saw other scholars coming to Gongyuan to check their papers, and they soon received their own papers.
It was already noon, and Huang Songwen found that the scholars who came long after him had all received their own papers.
He came earlier, but he didn't wait for his paper.
His friend Wei Bogu reminded him that something was not right and he needed to press for it.
Huang Songwen found the officials of Gongyuan again and urged: "Master Chai, I see that other people have already retrieved their own papers. Why haven't my papers come out yet?"
The Gongyuan official looked a little confused. He shook his head and said, "We are looking for your papers. There are too many papers and we are short of manpower. Please wait a moment."
Huang Songwen's nervous expression relaxed. He went back to wait and explained the situation to his friend Wei Bogu.
When Wei Bogu learned of this situation, he immediately grabbed Huang Songwen and ran outside the Gongyuan.
Before anyone could react, board a carriage.
"Let's go to the Metropolitan Procuratorate. Let's go quickly."
Huang Songwen sat in the carriage, staring at Wei Bogu with a confused look on his face.
Wei Bogu frowned and said: "Brother Songwen, something is wrong, the officials of Gongyuan are obviously stalling for time.
This matter cannot be solved at all in Gongyuan.
In this matter, it was obvious that Gongyuan made a mistake.
They don't want to solve the problem, they just want to suppress it.
The small officials in Gongyuan have too little power, and they cannot make the final decision.
From what I see, the behavior of these petty officials is that they are waiting for the official who can make the decision to arrive.
Once officials from the Ministry of Rites arrive, they will find many ways to prevent us from speaking."
When Huang Songwen heard his friend say this, he was not the kind of dull scholar who kept secrets of world affairs.
Living in a war-torn era of changing dynasties, he has seen too many dark sides.
"Brother Bogu, thank you for today. My reaction was too slow."
After Huang Songwen thanked him, he thought about why Gongyuan could not find his paper.
Even if it is really lost, there is still something hidden.
Huang Songwen said with a solemn expression: "Brother Bogu, we are going directly to the Metropolitan Procuratorate now, and we are just suing the Gongyuan for losing the examination papers. This crime is too low.
We may not be able to meet the powerful Censor, and any minor official in the Metropolitan Procuratorate can send us away.
Before, I thought I didn't know enough and failed the exam, so I went to Gongyuan to check the test papers, which was just to give myself some psychological comfort.
Now I suspect that my paper has been altered by someone.
Brother Bogu and I discussed the difficulty level of the test paper.
Whether it's our discussion or after the imperial examination, scholars talk about topics in newspapers.
My test papers are at least similar to those of Brother Bogu, so the probability of failing is very low."
When Wei Bogu heard Huang Songwen's words, he gave a thumbs up and said: "Brother Songwen is very thoughtful.
The page of "Yanhuang Daily" was too precious, so it only published the quota of Jinshi.
In other newspapers, they recorded Jinshi's articles in detail in the newspapers.
When we arrived at the Metropolitan Procuratorate, we immediately collected the articles from this year's Jinshi.
It's hard to say for other questions. For subjective questions like policy analysis, there will be no exact answers.
As long as we find evidence that there is fraud in this imperial examination, Brother Songwen, you will definitely seek justice."
When Huang Songwen heard his friend's suggestion, he couldn't help but nod and saw hope again.
Throughout the dynasties, there have been major cases of fraud in imperial examinations, and these were major incidents that could alarm the Holy One.
Even if a powerful official is involved in such a serious situation, he will not be able to escape unscathed.
Fraud in the imperial examinations will shake the interests of the emperor and civil servants, and will be hostile to everyone in the government and the public.
The carriage was very fast, and they soon arrived in front of the Metropolitan Procuratorate.
Huang Songwen went to the newsstand in front of the Metropolitan Procuratorate and bought a copy of all the newspapers issued today.
Wei Bogu took Huang Songwen with him, stood in front of the Metropolitan Procuratorate, complained, read the newspapers, and searched for all the policies and topics of the Jinshi.
Everyone who came and went from the Metropolitan Procuratorate saw two scholars who behaved strangely, and they all showed curious eyes.
Huang Songwen felt ashamed when he saw these strange looks.
"Brother Bogu, let's find an inn or teahouse and stand outside the Metropolitan Procuratorate. It's really embarrassing."
Wei Bogu said in a serious tone: "Brother Songwen, what time is it now?
If our guess is true, the two of us are in danger of being killed.
We are the safest at the gate of the Metropolitan Procuratorate.
There are white tiger guards standing guard at the gate of the Metropolitan Procuratorate, so we can sound the drum of grievance at any time."
Huang Songwen sighed and looked at the strategies of these scholars.
When he looked at the strategy of the top pick, he suddenly felt that the level gap between the two was too big, and he suffered a great blow both physically and mentally.
Huang Songwen reads very quickly. As long as he sees the first two sentences of the policy, he will know whether the policy was written by him.
Newspapers were thrown on the ground one after another. Wei Bogu helped him sort out the lost newspapers while observing the situation in front of the Metropolitan Procuratorate.
When Huang Songwen saw the policy and discussion of Liu Zongyi, the 83rd Jinshi.
His eyes widened and he couldn't believe what he saw.
The content on this paper was written by him, but the name was changed.
"Brother Bogu, I found it, I found it.
Number eighty-three is my paper.
Every word of the strategy I wrote is correct."
When Wei Bogu heard these words, he immediately urged: "Beate the drum quickly to express grievances, otherwise changes will occur if it is too late."
Huang Songmen reacted immediately. He walked to the injustice drum in front and prepared to beat the injustice drum.
Standing beside the grievance drum were officials from the Metropolitan Procuratorate. He saw Huang Song, a scholar dressed as a scholar.
He immediately reminded: "Boy, it seems that you are also a literate person.
If you sound the drum of grievance, if the evidence is insufficient or the case is trivial, you will pay a heavy price and will most likely be exiled to Nanyang.
Only cases involving the governor and other second-rank officials can sound the drum of grievance in front of the Metropolitan Procuratorate, so don’t blame me for not reminding you."
Huang Songwen said gratefully: "I know what I am doing, thank you for your reminder."
He held tightly the newspaper recording Liu Zongyi's test papers with his left hand, and picked up the drumstick with his right hand, beating the injustice drum outside the gate of the Metropolitan Procuratorate.
The sound of drums resounded throughout the entire Metropolitan Procuratorate.
Zhang Qinian, the censor of Qiandu, led his people out of the capital procuratorate.
Ordinary people who provide clues or come to the Metropolitan Procuratorate to report cases will not sound the drum of grievance outside.
Before beating the drum, officials will explain to these people.
The sound of the grievance drum indicates an important event. This chapter has been completed!
