Chapter 342 The Dust Settles [Two in One]

In front of the Imperial Examination Hall in Shendu, although it was already the season of bleak autumn wind, the atmosphere here was actually very lively.

Today is the first day of the autumn examination. Outstanding students from all over the world have gathered here, hoping to fight for a future for themselves in these few days.

There were three subjects in the imperial examinations of the Yin Dynasty: Scriptures, National Policies, and Splendid Articles, which respectively required reciting classics and history books, analyzing and discussing national policies, and writing outstanding articles.

During the reign of Emperor Mu Bei, the most important thing was national policy, and those selected were not people with literary talent but no practical knowledge. Most of them needed accumulation, so there were rarely young people on the gold list.

However, there are still many young people who consider themselves well-read and have ambitions for the country and the people, and they want to give it a try.

Liang Peng is one of them.

He was dressed in plain clothes, holding a bag containing simple daily necessities, and walked into the examination room under the earnest instructions of his mother and sister.

My younger brother is taking the imperial examination today, so Liang Xiaoyun has come specially to see him off.

She was wearing a lake blue outfit, looking elegant and simple. Perhaps because she had been practicing in Wentian Tower for a long time, she had an ethereal aura. Standing in the crowd, she could be seen to be different from others at a glance.

The candidates lined up to enter the Imperial Examination Hall, with countless family members eagerly waiting in anticipation. When the time came, the staff of the Ministry of Rites promptly blocked the gates of the Imperial Examination Hall. It was useless for those who were late to plead for mercy, as they would have to miss this exam and have to wait four years to take the exam again.

Logically speaking, once the door is closed, it will not be opened again until the evening exam is over.

But this time it was different. Not long after, another team came out from the corner of the street. They were all dressed in black and carried swords. They looked ferocious and shouted, pushing away the crowd that had gathered around them, and quickly surrounded the entire tribute hall.

"It's a constable from the Ministry of Justice!" the first person to recognize him shouted.

This group of people set out from the Ministry of Justice and headed specifically for the Ministry of Rites. The leader was none other than Deng Weigong, the Left Vice Minister of the Ministry of Justice.

Someone in the crowd recognized the official uniform and immediately exclaimed, "This is Lord Deng!"

Normally, if a thief is caught, a captain will do the job. If it is serious, the chief of the arrest department will go out personally, and at most, the knife department will come. How big a case must this be to require a third-rank official to lead the team personally?
And aren't there too many people here? They have called in all the detectives in the city. This number of people can't be used to catch thieves, it's probably enough to rebel.

"Break the door and arrest him!"

At the command, a group of detectives broke open the gate of the Imperial Examination Hall and rushed in like wolves and tigers.

The officials from the Ministry of Rites inside obviously had not anticipated this and were all panicked, shouting, "This is the imperial examination hall, what are you doing?"
Deng Weigong said loudly: "I am here under the order of the left prime minister to thoroughly investigate the case of cheating in the imperial examination. All candidates, whether officials or candidates, need to cooperate."

The crowd outside could not see the chaos in the examination room, but no one was willing to leave, and they all stayed here to watch the excitement. From the noise, it seemed that the people from the Ministry of Justice were arresting the candidates one by one to verify their identities. There were tens of thousands of candidates, so it was no wonder that the Ministry of Justice dispatched so many people.

The riot lasted for almost two hours, during which time several officials from various departments came to ask, "What are you doing?"
The imperial examination is a national event held every four years, and such a disruption is of no small magnitude.

Deng Weigong just retorted with a sentence "I'm following the orders of the Left Prime Minister."

It is indeed necessary for the Left Assistant Minister to take action personally, otherwise, at a lower level, he really cannot bear the pressure from officials at all levels, and the investigation may have to be forcibly terminated.

Li Caiyun was a little flustered and held her daughter's hand: "Oh, what happened? Is Xiaopeng okay?"

"No." Liang Xiaoyun shook her head. Liang Peng didn't tell her mother about Mo Xiaohu, but he told her sister, so she said calmly, "The Ministry of Justice is our own people."

Li Caiyun was a little puzzled. When did the Ministry of Justice become one of their own?

Liang Xiaoyun thought about it and hesitated to speak.

It is also impossible to say that Liang Fuguo had already become our adoptive father without your knowledge, mother.

The investigation continued until almost noon, when the large group of people left with nearly a hundred candidates.

The faces of these candidates are all pale and they look like they have lost their parents. It seems that it is indeed related to cheating, otherwise they would not be so scared.

If one cheated in the imperial examination, the punishment might be parading through the streets in shackles or being banned from the imperial examination for life, or even beheading... Of course, he would also be banned from the imperial examination for life.

The onlookers were all whispering, speculating what they had done. If it was a minor offense like bringing in cheat sheets, the Ministry of Justice wouldn't have made such a big fuss, so they probably bribed the officials and found someone to take the exam for them.

If caught, the punishment would be the severe death penalty.

If that happens, not only the substitute examinees who were arrested today, but also the examinees who did not enter the examination room and the officials who collected money in the examination room will probably not be able to escape, and there will be another bloody storm.

As expected, Lord Zuo Xiang would not take action easily, and if he did, it would be killing.

After the people from the Ministry of Justice left, the officials from the Ministry of Rites ordered the gates to be closed and the examination to begin again.

However, the most panicked people were not the remaining clean candidates, but the officials in the examination hall, because they knew very well whether they were clean or not, but they had not yet found them. Once the confessions of those who were arrested came out, they were afraid that it would be their turn.

For the first time in the history of the imperial examination, an examination began in which the invigilators were more nervous than the candidates.

……

At the same time as the arrest operation began, the Minister of Rites Xu Zhan'ao was invited to Liang Fuguo's office.

This situation is actually rare. After all, Xu Zhan'ao is the deputy prime minister of the right. Even if the left prime minister wants to ask him for something, he should go through the right prime minister Song Zhili. It is somewhat taboo to directly call the minister in charge to discuss matters.

But Liang Fuguo never cared about any taboos. He didn't care about the retribution of ghosts and gods, nor did he care about etiquette and rules, nor did he care about these human relationships. He would offend everyone equally.

When needed, Xu Zhan'ao would be called over with just a verbal message.

On the way here, Xu Zhan'ao had already received the news that the Imperial Examination Hall was being searched, so when he entered the yamen, his face was not looking good, and he sat directly on the chair opposite Liang Fuguo.

Like Liang Fuguo, Xu Zhan'ao was also fearless in the officialdom. Seeing that he came with anger, Liang Fuguo did not speak, but just quietly read the document in his hand.

The two men sat opposite each other, and there was a sense of confrontation between them.

After a long while, Xu Zhan'ao spoke first: "Lord Zuo Xiang wants to search the Imperial Examination Hall, and has sent out all his men and horses, but he called me, the Minister of Rites, here. Is he going to interrogate me?"

It's no wonder that he was angry. If Liang Fuguo felt that there was a problem with the Ministry of Rites, he would normally have told him, the Minister of Rites, first, and then asked him to cooperate in arresting the person.

He stepped over me and started to attack me. Do you think there is something wrong with me as the Minister? If the emperor asks me about it later and I don't know anything, won't it make me look incompetent?
Although the Ministry of Justice has been doing things this way since Liang Fuguo took over, and has never cared about other people's feelings, otherwise it would not have made enemies everywhere.

But others are others, and I am me.

You treat me, Xu Zhan'ao, the same way you treat others, but I will not accept it like others do.

Liang Fuguo smiled lightly and said, "Senior Brother Xu is an upright person. He will never be suspected of shielding or condoning someone. I know that."

As soon as he opened his mouth, he tried to establish friendship.

As students of the Kendo Academy, Xu Zhan'ao is a few years older than him and Song Zhili, so he is naturally considered their senior.

However, after they entered the officialdom, Liang Fuguo and Song Zhili advanced faster and surpassed them. In addition to their abilities, it may be more because of their family names.

"Then why did I just find out about such a big thing?" Xu Zhan'ao asked.

"If I had informed you in advance, would you have allowed things to become so drastic?" Liang Fuguo asked back.

Xu Zhan'ao frowned and pondered. Of course he wouldn't.

Something went wrong in the imperial examination hall. Even if the right prime minister was in charge of the examination this time, all the people available were from the Ministry of Rites, so he would definitely be the first to be embarrassed.

If he had known about this in advance, he should have asked Liang Fuguo to investigate secretly and minimize the impact.

But Liang Fuguo's goal was to make the matter bigger, so the two things were indeed contradictory.

But saying this to your face is like saying that I slapped you in the face. Naturally I can’t tell you. If you knew, would you still let me slap you?
He didn't know what Liang Fuguo's reasons were for being so confident.

"Brother, you probably don't know that the cause of this matter is related to Liang Yue." Liang Fuguo said suddenly.

He also knew that Xu Zhan'ao and Liang Yue had a good relationship. They had a teacher-student relationship, and they were both close to the prince. They had spent a lot of time together recently.

When this matter was brought up, Xu Zhan'ao asked, "What does it have to do with him?"

Liang Fuguo then told Liang Peng about Mo Xiaohu's threats, and then said, "This matter has been exposed. Senior Brother Xu, the imperial examination is the foundation of the country and cannot be shaken." Xu Zhan'ao was silent for a while, and said, "It's my fault for not supervising him properly."

"No, this matter has nothing to do with you." Liang Fuguo said: "I have obtained a list and have investigated it carefully. Those people were not recruited into the Ministry of Rites by you, and you should not be held responsible for those things."

Xu Zhan'ao certainly knew that he and his close confidants would naturally not do such a thing.

He knew without hesitation who were the people involved in this fraud case. Some of them were low-level officials, and the others might be those arranged by Song Zhili.

The Right Prime Minister was in charge of the three internal departments. It was very easy to arrange people under him, and those people did not make any big moves, so Xu Zhan'ao lived in peace with them.

Song Zhili arranged the people not for himself, but for the major families, even the royal family, who needed to distribute the interests in the Ministry of Rites and the Ministry of Revenue. It can be said that it was a tradition that lasted for thousands of years, and each of them was part of this interest chain.

Xu Zhan'ao was unwilling to do such a thing as his position was actually very dangerous, and Song Zhili helped him do it, which could be said to be a favor to him.

That's why he turned a blind eye.

"It hasn't been long since the incident happened, and Lord Zuo Xiang has already found the specific list. He is indeed swift and decisive." Xu Zhan'ao just said lightly.

It is naturally impossible to find out these things in just a few days. We can only say that Liang Fuguo had planned it for a long time.

He's going to war again.

After his great victories in the two battles against Lu Guozhang and Ding Gou Wang, is he going to attack Song Zhili again?
Xu Zhan'ao couldn't help feeling a little worried. In fact, he and Song Zhili should be on the same side in terms of stance, but emotionally, he hoped that Liang Fuguo would win.

Perhaps this is also the reason why Liang Fuguo asked him to come.

Liang Fuguo said quietly, "The list of candidates for the city-capturing battle should be out soon. If you don't have the time to travel between the two places, you might as well stay there for a while."

Xu Zhan'ao naturally understood what he meant. It was nothing more than keeping himself out of the spotlight. This was also his intention.

At last, he just said: "Lord Zuo Xiang, be careful."

The enemy this time is different from the previous ones. Lu Guozhang’s background is at most the emperor’s favor, and Jiang Zhenye is also supported by the royal family and valued by the emperor.

But behind Song Zhili are those great families that have existed longer than the Yin Dynasty, which may be more terrifying than the imperial power. As the balance point of all forces, he seems to be an ordinary right prime minister, but no one wants him to step down.

Including Liang Fuguo himself, he and Song Zhili have actually been close friends for many years.

Xu Zhan'ao didn't know what his intention was in suddenly starting a war, so he could only give him a reminder.

"I will." Liang Fuguo said with a smile, "When you come back, the Imperial Examination Hall will be clear and bright."

Xu Zhan'ao stared into his eyes, as if he had already seen the war coming, not knowing whether it was the wind rising or the clouds dying.

……

After meeting Liang Fuguo, Xu Zhan'ao set out to leave the capital and soon arrived at Yujing Peak.

Just in time for the end of the trial in Huanyin City.

After three stages of training and six trials, the final result has come out, and the candidates who will participate in the battle to capture the city have been decided.

"Minister Xu, you've come at the right time. We are just about to distribute Yu Linglong here." Taoist Feng greeted.

The young people all left the Phantom City at this time, their faces were a little nervous, with a vague expectation. Although they knew their own results, they didn't know others', so the final result was still a mystery.

"The last few people who survived, take out the moon beads you obtained." said Master Yun.

Under everyone's gaze, Qi Yingwu opened his hand and offered up three moon beads.

He had broken through the sixth realm before the trial, and this achievement was not surprising. This was because he did not kill others and left some opportunities for others. Otherwise, as long as Wen Yifan did not take action, who in the city would be his opponent?

Perhaps it was because Wen Yifan chose to be humble that Qi Yingwu also had the same idea.

Next came Chen Xuanjiu and Yan Shenbing, who each offered up two moon beads. As the top ten members of the Young Lin List, their hard power did not disappoint and was put to good use in the final trial.

The last one was Lin Fenghe. He also hid with a moon bead and survived to the end.

The remaining Liang Yue and Wen Yifan did not get the Moon Pearl, while Monk Yuansheng, Shang Yunhai and Wu Handing were killed and eliminated one after another.

The results of the nine people are now clear.

There is no doubt that Liang Yue was the first. His score of ten Yu Linglong put him more than one step ahead of the others, which was really outrageous.

His strength has improved from being the weakest at the beginning to being the strongest in the front row now, but he has never been the strongest. But no matter what kind of competition it is, as long as he goes all out, he will win, and others are just here to compete for second place.

This can really be described as perverted.

The other geniuses were confused at the beginning, but now they are convinced. They just hope to join if they can't beat him, and they look forward to being assigned to the same group with Liang Yue in every trial.

Tied for second place were Wen Yifan and Qi Yingwu with five. After getting three moon beads, Qi Yingwu caught up with Senior Sister Wen in both realm and number of jade Linglong, achieving a comeback.

He is undoubtedly the biggest winner of this level of Huanyin City.

The third echelon is composed of Monk Yuansheng, Chen Xuanjiu, Yan Shenbing and Lin Fenghe. Among them, Chen Xuanjiu and Yan Shenbing made a comeback in this round, while Monk Yuansheng had no achievements and won by relying on his previous foundation.

Finally, there are the three from Shang Yunhai and Wu Handing.

They had some advantages before entering Huanyin City, but they did not expect to be killed in this city and left without any gain.

In this way, the number of Yu Linglong is fixed.

In the subsequent battle to capture the city, Shang Yunhai and Wu Handing will serve as substitutes.

"Senior Brother Shang..." Several people from Xuanmen looked at Shang Yunhai.

He was relatively calm, and shook his head slightly, saying, "My skills are not as good as others, so it's only natural that I should be a substitute."

Wu Handing was a little depressed. This was indeed a little below his expectations. After all, he came to participate in the trial as the young master of the Whale Gate and the tenth on the Young Unicorn List. He never thought that he would be the substitute.

Yan Shenbing and Lin Fenghe also patted him on the shoulders.

"Second brother, victory and defeat are common in the military." Yan Shenbing comforted him.

Lin Fenghe also advised: "Second brother, failure always runs through life, success is a minority, after all, you are different from me..."

Before he could finish his words, someone covered his mouth and dragged him away.

Wu Handing could only force out a smile, "It doesn't matter. I'm lucky to be a substitute witness."

During these days of journey, everyone established a deep friendship. Although they were sad about their own failures, they were also happy for the success of others.

After all, they knew from the beginning that there would be losers in this trial, so it was not so surprising that it was their turn.

Seeing the gloomy atmosphere, Xu Zhan'ao cleared his throat and said loudly: "There is no time to be sad about what happened before. What you are going to face next is the most brutal war. Being able to go on the battlefield may not be a good thing."

"Your trial journey ends here. The next stop will be..."

"Frost North City!"

　Good morning.

　　I have finally finished writing the trial part, which is a lot slower than planned. Next up is the competition, and it feels like it will take quite a while to finish. I originally planned to write one volume in two months, so I'm afraid this volume will take three months.

　　I want to take a few days off. I'll send my request later.

　　
　
(End of this chapter)