Liu Ziqiu muttered: "If these people have any big plans, the person in charge cannot always stay behind the scenes, and there will always be times when they show up. However, everything is possible, and what Li Aiqing is worried about is not impossible. Send an order to ban the army.
Don't relax, lest these people have already agreed on a time to take action."
Zhao Ling frowned and said: "Your Majesty, I thought that if they had already agreed on a date, they would definitely choose it on the day of the imperial examination!"
Liu Ziqiu said "Oh" and asked, "How dare Zhao Aiqing be so sure?"
Zhao Ling smoothed the long strands of beard under his chin and said with a smile: "Now the world is peaceful, the laws are strict, and the people live and work in peace and contentment. As long as the people's hearts are not in chaos, even if there are some rebels, there is nothing to do. I think these people
I just want to take advantage of the national talent selection ceremony to create some chaos and confuse people."
"Confusing people's hearts?" Liu Ziqiu frowned and said in a deep voice, "Don't they know how tightly guarded the capital is? Just to confuse people's hearts, thousands of lives are sacrificed in vain. It's a bit unbelievable. In my opinion,
Come on, I’m afraid it’s not that simple.”
Wei Zheng cupped his hands and said: "The imperial examination is tomorrow. If they really choose that day, they will see the result tomorrow. As long as the city is more prepared, there is no need to worry about thousands of people!"
Liu Ziqiu waved his hand and said: "Forget it. No matter where or why these people come, they are all my Han people, and I don't want to cause more killings. According to my decree, a large army will be mobilized into the city tomorrow to strengthen the various areas in the capital.
I will guard you until the end of the imperial examination. I hope these people can understand my distress and retreat. However, even if these people leave the capital, they cannot take it lightly. They must secretly send orders to the local officials to find out where they came from."
In fact, the easiest way to find out where these people came from is to arrest a few people and interrogate them severely. There will always be someone who cannot survive the punishment and confesses on his own initiative. However, Liu Ziqiu always feels that the person behind them is definitely not simple.
, so I am still unwilling to alert the enemy, and want to use the whereabouts of these people to find out the mastermind behind the scenes.
…
Early the next morning, when the people in the capital opened the doors of their courtyards, they were surprised to find that there were several times more soldiers patrolling the streets than usual. However, today was the day when the imperial examination began. In order to prevent anyone from causing trouble, extra soldiers were sent.
The lack of manpower is also a very normal thing. After all, we are the people of the capital, and they are well-informed after all. Everyone calmed down quickly and went about their business.
However, some people in the capital who had experienced the first imperial examination found that the guards at this year's imperial examination seemed to be a little too strict. It was still far away from Taiyuan University, and the soldiers maintaining order were three steps to one post, and five eyes to one sentry.
All candidates lined up in a long queue and had to go through six rounds of inspections before entering Taiyuan University. This year’s exam also has a special feature. All the materials used in the exam, including pens, inks, paper and inkstones, are all provided by the imperial court. Candidates don’t need to bring anything, just a person.
Just show up. In this way, the intensity of the inspection work is greatly reduced. Even though there are four inspection procedures compared to previous years, the candidates are still admitted much faster. Of course, the expenditure of the court will also be greatly increased.
In other words, the Han Dynasty has obtained a large amount of gold and silver through trade with the West and mining mines in Africa over the years, and it is not difficult to afford it.
At this time, the candidates had finished entering, the capital was quiet, and the group of suspicious characters did not do anything special. However, in a short period of time, they did not see any intention of leaving the capital.
Three days later, the exam ended and the candidates filed out of Taiyuan College. Although the results had not been released yet, the exam results were already written on their faces. Some were happy, some sighed, and some showed an indifferent attitude.
On this day, the guards on the street were strengthened again, and the number of patrols was nearly twice as large as usual. I don’t know whether it was because the date agreed by the group did not arrive, or they were intimidated by the increased number of troops on the street.
In short, they neither made any special moves nor left the capital.
After the exam is over, the papers will be marked. All papers will be sealed with the names of the candidates, and then copied by the clerk, and then handed over to the examiner for marking. This can prevent any kind of dispute between the marking officer and the candidates through handwriting identification.
Contact. In order to ensure the fairness of the exam and prevent fraud, Wei Zheng and the others really put a lot of thought into it.
Since Liu Ziqiu had decided to delegate power to the cabinet, he was not willing to interfere too much with the examination results. However, after the examination results came out, Wei Zheng hurriedly sent the list to Liu Ziqiu's court. Because, this year's list appeared again
An unexpected figure was introduced, that is, the new Prince Consort of Jiangdu, Li Shimin.
Wei Zheng is very clear about the grievances and resentments between Li Yuan's family and Liu Ziqiu. When Wei Zheng reaches this stage, no matter how kind-hearted he is, his actions will become decisive and ruthless. He once reminded Liu Ziqiu not to leave any future troubles!
But the situation was special at that time, and Li Yuan surrendered to Luoyang City. In order to win the hearts of the people, Liu Ziqiu had to pardon Li Yuan's family. Of course, it would be easy for Liu Ziqiu to take the lives of Li Yuan's family at any time.
It can be done. What makes Wei Zheng dissatisfied is that Liu Ziqiu has been reluctant to make this determination. Instead, Li Jiancheng passed the imperial examination and will soon be sent to another place to serve. And now, Li Shimin has passed the imperial examination again and ranks second.
This achievement is destined to enter the cabinet. In such a situation, how can Wei Zheng not be anxious?
Liu Ziqiu took the list and said thoughtfully: "Mr. Wei, there is no problem with the examination paper evaluation, right?"
Wei Zheng cupped his hands and said, "Your Majesty, please rest assured, there is absolutely no problem!"
Liu Ziqiu nodded and said: "Since there is no problem, let's publish the results accordingly!"
Wei Zheng was shocked and said: "Although Li Yuan is dormant in a corner, according to what I have seen, this person's evil intentions are not dead. Now, his eldest son is about to be sent out to serve, and his second son is the second best in high school. Sooner or later he will join the cabinet. The cabinet is the central place.
, we must not allow such people to enter. Please lower Li Shimin to the second class, and I hope your majesty will think twice!"
After the first imperial examination, the candidates studied at Taiyuan College for four years. Two people were able to finally enter the cabinet, namely Changsun Wuji and Pan Zhi, who came from a poor family. In order to attract more people to participate in the imperial examination, it was also to compete for the next one.
Candidates, Liu Ziqiu specially issued an edict, promising that after the second imperial examination, the top three high school candidates would have the opportunity to enter the cabinet. Therefore, Wei Zhengcai proposed to demote Li Shimin to the second class, that is, to demote Li Shimin to the fourth.
Naturally, the best opportunity to enter the cabinet was lost. After entering Taiyuan University, the quality of students' performance was judged entirely by their bachelors. In the words of later generations, it all depended on the subjective impressions of the bachelors. As long as a little
To add a hint, no matter how outstanding Li Shimin is, he will not be able to enter the cabinet. And this imperial examination ranking is almost his only chance to enter the cabinet.
But Liu Ziqiu shook his head and said: "Even if he enters the cabinet, I have nothing to fear!" He also said: "People can be bullied, but God cannot be bullied. I still don't want to do anything that goes against fairness."
Wei Zheng saw that he could not persuade Liu Ziqiu, so he had no choice but to bow down and leave.
On the day when the list was released, the capital was once again heavily guarded, as if facing a formidable enemy. In order to avoid crowds gathering, multiple copies of the list were printed at the same time and posted in every corner of the capital. The leader of the high school was Du Ruhui, whom Liu Ziqiu had always admired, and the second place
Li Shimin, the third one is Lu Zhengqi, a descendant of the Lu family in Fanyang.
On this day, the candidates who had been waiting for the results to be released in the capital were some happy and some sad. However, all the restaurants and brothels were still full, and songs and laughter resounded through the sky. On such a day, the capital naturally seemed a bit messy, and those two groups
The suspicious people still didn't make any move. It even gave people an illusion. These people had no special purpose at all, and they never wanted to disrupt the public order in the capital. They just came to observe the grand occasion of the imperial examination. But Liu Ziqiu didn't think so.
, on the contrary, he became even more suspicious of the purpose of these people, but he was very calm. He would not give the order to take action until the people in charge showed up.
…
A few days later, Liu Ziqiu held a banquet in Xiyuan to entertain the 400 successful candidates in the name of the imperial court. These people will all enter Taiyuan University to study, and Liu Ziqiu is also one of the teachers of Taiyuan University. In other words, these people
They will all be his students from now on. What Liu Ziqiu really values is not the teacher-student relationship between him and these students, but he wants to cultivate real talents for the Han Dynasty.
The scenery of Xiyuan is still the same, with green trees in midsummer, but there are fewer beauties and more freedom. With the passage of time, people in the capital no longer regard Xiyuan as a forbidden place for the royal family, regardless of whether they are wealthy or not.
People are still common people, and they will go to Xiyuan to play whenever they have free time. Liu Ziqiu has always advocated the concept of equality. Even though he is hosting a banquet for all candidates in Xiyuan today, he does not prohibit people from coming and going. Therefore, today's Xiyuan is still full of people.
Like weaving.
The banquet was held in Qiyin Courtyard, which used to be the residence of Gao Xiuer. Liu Ziqiu also had a special liking for visiting the courtyard. Every time he visited Xiyuan, he could not miss a trip here. Naturally, no one was absent from such an important banquet, and they showed up early.
Waiting in the courtyard, Liu Ziqiu did not set up any carriages, and left the palace with only Daleng and dozens of guards. Before he could reach the gate of Xiyuan, he saw several fast horses flying towards him.
Riding horses is not allowed in the capital, unless there is some urgent military situation. Although it is important to entertain the candidates, no matter how important it is, it is not as important as the urgent military situation. Liu Ziqiu couldn't help but stop and shouted in a deep voice: "Go and ask two people
, what happened?”
Before the guards could leave, those few people had already approached, rolled off their horses, knelt down on one knee, and said loudly: "General Li has urgent military information to submit, please see it for your Majesty's review!"
A guard had already come forward, took a document from the man's hand, and forwarded it to Liu Ziqiu. Liu Ziqiu opened it and saw that it was the group that had been dormant in the capital for many days.
Come on! Hereby decree, if these people really dare to go to those places, they will be killed without mercy!"