Ministry of punishment, prison.

Brother Si looked at the dull-looking Li Pan and said, "Think about it carefully, have you offended anyone?"

Although the imperial examination fraud outside is aimed at the chief and deputy examiners, they are also divided into masters and slaves.

Li Pan was regarded as the "lord". According to rumors, he wanted money at the expense of his life, and even dared to accept money from ministers.

Jiang Chenying was a "conformist", and his main fault was favoritism, so he chose a junior from his hometown as Jieyuan.

In the previous dynasty, there were inspectors from the Supervisory Office and Dali Temple, but in this dynasty they were abolished, leaving only the Ministry of Punishments.

Persons involved in cases awaiting trial at Dali Temple and the Supervisory Office are also concentrated in the Ministry of Punishment Prison.

So Brother Si came to inquire, he came to the Penal Department Prison to inquire.

Li Pan is a person who loves cleanliness the most, but now he is in a very embarrassed state after being locked up for several days.

He looked at Brother Si with a dull look, wandering away from the world for a while, and said: "After the results of the provincial examination were released, I met Xu Tanhua by chance. I felt resentful and said that I was short-sighted and delayed the court's selection of talents. I was puzzled at the time, but I heard about it later.

His nephew lives behind Kesun Mountain here..."

The fourth elder brother couldn't help but frown after hearing this.

I asked this question before, wondering if it was due to official strife, but I didn't expect to find out the reason.

The person who is now known as Xu Tanhua by the world is Xu Bingyi, the cabinet bachelor and Zhanshifu Zhanshi.

He and his eldest brother were ranked No. 3, and his younger brother was the number one scholar. They were collectively known as the "Three Xus".

Now his eldest brother, Xu Tanhua, and his younger brother, Xu Zhuangyuan, have both passed away. He is the only one who is still in the court, but his nephews and nephews have also produced several Jinshis, becoming a first-class family in the Jiangnan imperial examination.

Regarding the children of the Xu family, their reputation in the capital is not very good. They were once involved in the Shuntianfu Township Examination Fraud Case in the 23rd year of Kangxi's reign.

Li Pan fell into memories and said: "When the list came out, someone mentioned that there were no children of the Xu family on the list.

The reason why this rural examination is suspected of fraud is that the proportion of officials' children is high, and another reason is that the Xu family failed.

You must know that he is the nephew of "San Xu". The first few cousins ​​above him are either Jinshi or Juren, but one here is actually not on the list.

Now, no one mentions Xu Jiazi.

Now that he had a suspect, Fourth Elder Brother ordered the Metropolitan Procuratorate to go to Xu's house to pick up the person immediately.

Xu Bingyi's rank was not high, but his eldest brother was a minister of the Ministry of Justice during his lifetime, and his younger brother was a bachelor, so he was given a house in the inner city, right at the root of the imperial city.

After half an hour, the people from the Metropolitan Procuratorate brought the person back.

He is a man of twenty-five or six years old, and he looks like a talented person.

He is the son of Xu Bingyi's concubine, and he is also a Imperial College student.

When he was summoned, he was a little uneasy, but he behaved himself.

Come to think of it, this is an official family, and there are many important people in the family. I have never seen anything like this.

The fourth elder brother originally wanted to ask him about his failure, but then he thought of the reexamination he had just taken.

He said: "Some people say that you are a legacy of the undergraduate provincial examination. There is a paper there, you should do it!"

However, the man was not happy and was surprised, and said hurriedly: "Si Beile, the students' knowledge is average. They are all 'passing on rumors' from outside. They really can't live up to the reputation of being a legacy."

Brother Si's expression remained unchanged, but he became suspicious in his heart.

Scholars are not short of pride.

This Xu Jiansheng is a little less proud.

At his age, he has been in enlightenment for more than twenty years and has been in prison for more than ten years. If nothing else, he should be very comfortable with policy making.

I haven't put pen to paper yet, so why do I think I'm inadequate?

"Go ahead and submit the file to the emperor."

Brother Si said with a solemn expression, and motioned for someone to take Xu Jiansheng to the hall next door to answer the question.

Xu Jiansheng's forehead was dripping with sweat, his body was stooped, and his steps were a little light.

The fourth elder brother looked at his back and saw that he was guilty. He was not the instigator, but also the person involved.

At this time, Xu Bingyi was also invited.

He was almost seventy years old, and he also gave lectures in the study in his early years.

The fourth elder brother stood up, leaned forward and said, "Master Xu,

Xu Bingyi turned sideways and bowed: "Your Majesty Xu Bingyi has seen Sibeile."

Fourth Brother motioned to Su Peisheng to move a chair and said, "Master Xu, please sit down."

Xu Bingyi sat down and said with a wry smile: "At this moment, Sibeile is too polite.

As he spoke, he took out a piece of paper from his sleeve and said, "Isn't Sibeile summoning the ministers to convey the message?"

The fourth elder brother nodded and said: "The imperial examination has long had rules. After naming the chief examiner and deputy examiner, there will be guards following. It is a joke to say that the cashier asked for bribes as mentioned in this memorandum. Mr. Li mentioned that after the results of the provincial examination were released, your Excellency once said

Vocal dissatisfaction... Knife

Xu Bingyi sighed and said: "People are old and confused, forgetting the principle of 'misfortune comes from the mouth'. When the Gui List was released, I complained to Mr. Li, annoyed that he was blind, and named Yao Guan as Jieyuan, and Xu Jinxi was second.

Xu Jinxi has long been known for his talent and is well known.”

Brother Si frowned and said, "You knew something was wrong, why didn't you report it?"

Xu Bingyi said: "I didn't expect such a big commotion. When the rumors first started, I thought it was a conflict between Hanlins from different departments in the Hanlin Academy."

The fraud cases involved this time included the top pick and third overall pick in the 36th year of Kangxi's reign, and the second place on the list did not fall.

The second-placed son and nephew are both on the honors list.

This memorandum also points out that the second person on the list "acts as a mediator and pays bribes."

The fourth elder brother said: "My nephew has also been summoned and is solving problems and writing strategies next door."

Xu Bingyi stood up and said: "I am guilty and should not 'hide each other's relatives'"

The fourth elder brother said with a cold face: "Do you know that your nephew is involved?"

Xu Bingyi slumped his shoulders and said: "Before, I only knew that he was often invited to Nancheng for banquets by his classmates and locals. Today, after reading this message, I understand that he is not interested in drinking..."

Brother Si did not have an attack and settled the matter in his mind.

This part of the statement is quite right.

If it were not for the high-ranking officials and their descendants to be involved, the details of the people in this case would not have been so clear.

After a while, Xu Jiansheng came in with papers in his hands.

Looking at him, he looked like he was about to faint.

Fourth Brother motioned for someone to take the paper, looked at it briefly, and then frowned.

It seems that Xu Bingyi did not tell lies. He was indeed aggrieved for other people, not for his nephew as Li Pan misunderstood.

At Xu Jiansheng's level, it would be cheating if he really got on the list.

Wood

The next day, Yu Qian got a deal from the capital.

Brother Si wrote in detail the causes and consequences of the "fraud case".

The reason was that Xu Bingyi ridiculed Li Pan in the Hanlin Academy because of objections to the candidate for the Yuan Dynasty. Other Hanlin officials heard this and thought that Xu Bingyi suspected that the provincial examination was unfair.

Later, because Li Pan's son and nephew who were ranked second in the same department were all on the list, other Hanlin officials suspected that they had been commissioned in the same year.

When word spread outside, he became the second-best briber and Li Pan was the cashier.

There was also a nephew of Xu Bingyi, who was receiving a banquet outside and mentioned the background of the current imperial examiner one by one, and was used to write an essay.

There are people who are colluding in private under the banner of Xu Bingyi.

As for Jiang Chenying's favoritism, it has also been investigated.

Xie Yuan Yao Guan, a native of Ningbo Prefecture in Zhejiang Province, was a fellow villager of Jiang Chenying. After entering Beijing, he went to Jiang's house to visit senior fellow villagers and also sent letters to him.

These are all imperial examination practices.

Being from the same hometown, the same year, and classmates are the closest relationships in official circles.

At that time, no one thought that Jiang Chenying would be appointed as the deputy examiner, so there was no need to avoid any interactions between the two.

There were many Zhejiang Hanlins in the Hanlin Academy. Jiang Chenying mentioned to his colleagues that he was a junior from the same country and felt that he was talented and a popular candidate to solve the Yuan Dynasty in this subject.

When the list came out, he even mentioned his good eyesight in the Hanlin Academy.

But in the eyes of others, it is suspected that he has internally determined Jieyuan.

Later in the excerpt, Si Age also mentioned the matter of the "re-examination" of the Eight Banners examiners, and wrote down the results of everyone, and asked whether all candidates for the imperial examination should be "re-examined".

Kangxi looked at it and breathed a sigh of relief.

Those were the top picks and third overall picks he had hand-picked, and he had been very worried about fraud.

This will be recorded in the history books.
To be continued...