"...Then, please give me an explanation, everyone."
In the evening of that day, that is, the evening of the third day of the examination, Zhao Hongrun and his guards blocked the small officials who were responsible for selling white wax in the evening.
There were not many people, only four people.
In front of this dead man, Zhao Hongrun took out a piece of white wax from each of their left and right baskets and broke them all into pieces. Sure enough, there was a mystery hidden inside one of the pieces of white wax.
It was obvious that these four petty officials were all aware of the situation, and their faces immediately turned pale when they saw this scene.
At this time, the four Zongwei hurriedly stepped forward and covered their mouths. After all, Zhao Hongrun and others just pulled these four people to an uninhabited corner under various excuses. Once these four people screamed, it would inevitably cause a stir.
"Everyone, be silent... You should know that the officials in the examination hall are leading the charge of fraud, ranging from being exiled to the army to being sentenced to death. Don't think that the officials who instigated you can save you..."
The four people looked at each other, and the fear on their faces became even stronger. Presumably, they knew the consequences.
"Now I will show you a way out." Zhao Hongrun ordered a Zongwei to take out the pen, ink, paper and inkstone that had been prepared, and said in a low voice to the four minor officials: "As long as you are willing to confess the crime and draw a bond, you can make a pledge for me."
Not only will I keep you safe, but I will also give each of you one hundred taels of silver... Think about your family, take the blame for those above you, and make your relatives at home sad, why bother?"
The four clerks looked at each other. Now they were like fish on a chopping board. They had no choice. After looking at each other for a few times, they gritted their teeth and nodded. They wrote their confessions on paper, and finally returned
He dipped his thumb and forefinger in ink to mark the confession, wrote his name, and made his fingerprints.
"Very good. It seems that all four of you are smart people."
Zhao Hongrun signaled the clan guards with his eyes to dry up their confessions, and then said in a deep voice to the four minor officials: "You should know my identity. Since I said I can protect you, I can protect you... I will treat you as such."
After I do something, I will return this confession to you and give you another hundred taels of silver. But if someone betrays me, haha, this confession of guilt is enough to destroy your family."
"You guys don't dare." The four junior officials looked at each other, and one of them lowered his head and said in a panic: "Even if we had ten courages, we wouldn't dare to deceive you... Your Majesty the Eighth Prince."
What do you want us to do?"
As soon as he finished speaking, Zongwei Gao Kuo, Zhongzhao and Zhongzhao carried out a few baskets. The baskets were filled with white wax that they had worked hard to make at the Ministry of Industry during the day. There were hidden contents that Zhao Hongrun had prepared for the third-day scientific examination.
Articles, exactly the same article, hundreds of copies.
"Use these to replace the white wax you use for cheating, and distribute them to those candidates in the examination room who need this white wax for cheating, as we did the previous two days... Remember, don't give me any clues, otherwise, you will understand."
Following Zhao Hongrun's words, several Zongwei holding confessions beside them deliberately shook the confessions of the four minor officials.
"You guys understand, you guys understand." The four clerks nodded.
"Then what are you waiting for? Go ahead."
"Yes, yes."
The four clerks quickly changed the white wax, carrying a basket of white wax made by Zhao Hongrun and a basket of ordinary white wax. They pretended that nothing had happened and returned to the cell to distribute the white wax to those "
need” their candidates.
With a confession that could destroy their family in the hands of Zhao Hongrun, they did not dare to have any other ideas. Just as they were tempted by what Zhao Hongrun said, the fraud in the examination room was just the instigation of the high-ranking officials above them. They did not dare to do this at first.
Yes, now that things have happened, there is no need for them to take the blame for the people above.
The people at the top take money to gain favors, but their families and families are ruined because of it. Why bother?
After about an hour or so, the four clerks had almost divided the special white wax, leaving only a few sticks. Zhao Hongrun made an estimate and found that there were definitely no less than a hundred candidates who had cheated in the exam this time.
After all, the policy test on the third day is relatively simple. Not every cheating candidate needs the answers on this day. The most difficult thing is the four essays on the first day. It is a pity that Zhao Hongrun has not grasped this at that time.
The key to the matter.
"Well done. If this goes well, I will recommend you to another government office. Then you will no longer have to worry about retaliation from the superiors... At this time tomorrow, I will fulfill my promise."
Zhao Hongrun's promise to the four petty officials made them happy.
"Yes, yes." The four clerks left happily.
Seeing this, Zhao Hongrun went straight to the room of the candidate named Wen Qi.
At this time, Wen Qi was already lying on the stone couch, seemingly awake and sleeping.
Zhao Hongrun walked over and knocked lightly on the table a few times.
"..." Wen Qi opened his eyes and saw Zhao Hongrun, only to find that Zhao Hongrun nodded towards him.
He was stunned for a moment, then a smile appeared on his face, and he shook his head half-smilingly.
The friendship between gentlemen was as light as water, and neither of them took this matter to heart, and when they met again, it was already several years later.
One night was uneventful.
Zhao Hongrun went to rest in the room in the side hall of the Confucius Temple, and among the clan guards beside him, except for the two who were still staring at Na Luo Rong, who were closely guarding his highness, the other six were chatting with him in the room.
The room was wandering.
It was not to catch those cheating candidates, but just to see what was going on in the entire examination room. After all, they could not guarantee whether Zhao Hongrun's plan could be realized smoothly.
Zhao Hongrun slept until three o'clock in the morning the next day. At this time, all the candidates in the examination room had collected their answer sheets for the last examination and were leaving the examination room in groups.
Zhao Hongrun went straight to the main hall of the Confucius Temple, because Luo Wenzhong, the examiner of this examination, and the other sixteen fellow examiners, as well as some responsible directors and officers, would review the answer sheets of this examination here.
It can be seen that these officials are no longer as afraid of Zhao Hongrun, the eighth prince, as they were before. Even when they saw Zhao Hongrun leading ten clan guards into the main hall, few people greeted him. They all pretended to be...
It's like I have to concentrate on marking the exam papers.
Seeing this, Zhao Hongrun didn't care and kept looking at the furnishings in the main hall.
Let’s talk about the examination papers in detail. According to regulations, candidates’ answer sheets are called “ink papers”. Examiners are not allowed to mark directly on the ink papers. This is to prevent fraud and prevent examiners from identifying candidates’ ink papers.
The handwriting of relatives, students, or some special marks can be used to take care of them privately.
Therefore, after the ink scroll is collected, the principals, officers, and officials who are specially responsible for copying will take the lead in copying an identical "Ink Roll", fill in the number corresponding to the ink scroll on the ink scroll, and then put the ink scroll into the ink scroll.
The paper was submitted to a total of seventeen examiners for review.
There are more than 2,600 candidates and three scientific examinations, which means that the number of red papers that need to be transcribed reaches almost 8,000. Just the dozens of transcribering officials who have to do the transcribing have to be said to be a very large amount of work.
Big things.
No, those officials spent a whole day copying and didn't finish copying all the candidates' answer sheets on the first day.
The sun was going down day by day. Whether they had been copying official history all day, or the examiners who had been reviewing it all day, they finally put down their pens and prepared to go to the dining hall of Confucius Temple to have a meal.
It can be seen that these people are indeed very tired.
Thinking about it, even Zhao Hongrun, who had done nothing all day, felt tired, let alone them.
"Your Highness, the Eighth Prince, wants to have a meal? Why don't you go with the officials and others?"
During this period, I don’t know what Luo Wenzhong was thinking, and he actually walked up to Zhao Hongrun on purpose to provoke him: "Actually, I think I think the Eighth Prince has nothing to do here anyway, so why not go back to the palace? What do you think?"
"You guy..." Zong Weiweijiao looked angry.
Zhao Hongrun raised his hand to stop the sect guards who were all angry, looked up and down at Luo Wenzhong, and said with a smile: "Sir Luo is right, but there is nothing I can do about it. His Highness is still accompanying the prisoner, so I can only wait.
Only after all candidates have finished marking their papers can they return to the palace."
"Huh!" Luo Wenzhong laughed scornfully and left with the officials.
"Who is this guy?"
Looking at Luo Wenzhong's disdainful expression, all the sect guards were angry and sneered secretly: Let's see how long you can laugh!
"Let's go have a meal too."
"yes."
Zhao Hongrun did not take Luo Wenzhong's provocation to heart at all, and led the sect guards to eat in the temple's dining hall.
Because there is a certain amount of public history in the main hall at all times, and the officials stay behind, he is not afraid that anyone will do anything at this time.
After finishing the meal, everyone returned to the main hall of the Confucius Temple. Those in charge of copying continued to copy, and those in charge of reviewing continued to review, while Zhao Hongrun continued to do nothing, silently waiting for the exam papers on the third day.
When he couldn't stand it anymore after staying up late, he simply moved two chairs and fell asleep in the corner of the main hall.
"What on earth is this kid thinking about?"
Glancing at Zhao Hongrun, who was sleeping soundly in the corner, Luo Wenzhong felt a little puzzled.
In his opinion, the eighth prince had not caught any fraud in the official department this time, but why did this boy seem not to care?
He couldn't figure it out.
The work of reviewing the examination papers continued day and night. On the evening of the fourth day after the examination, the officials and officials responsible for copying finally copied the answer sheets for the third session of the examination.
Seeing this, the clan guards, who had been awake for several days, quietly woke up Zhao Hongrun, who was sleeping soundly in the corner of the main hall.
"Huh?"
A public historian in charge of copying had a look of confusion on his face and murmured to himself: "How do you feel about this article..."
"What's wrong?" Another public historian next to him turned his head and looked at his colleague in confusion as he compared the two students' ink scrolls.
Suddenly, a look of astonishment appeared on his face, he pointed to the two ink scrolls in his colleague's hands, and then pointed to the one in his own hand, and said in shock: "What...what's going on?"
They were horrified to find that the three candidates' ink scrolls in their hands were eerily similar, almost identical.
"What's wrong? What happened?"
Zhao Hongrun came behind them at some point and looked at them with a smile.
"Huh? These three candidates' essays... oh, they are surprisingly similar!"