The First Gongsheng of Ming Dynasty

Chapter 197

Zhang Zhou heard Zhu Youtang's attitude towards this matter.

Who cares about you Tang Yin, can your own interests be compared with the stability of the court?Sacrifice one of you to make everyone happy, even if you get the title of Jinshi, you can be deprived of it.

"Your Majesty, the minister's opinion is still to uphold justice. If there is no evidence, justice should be returned."

Zhang Zhou had already made up his mind to help Tang Yin. Seeing that the emperor wanted to erase Tang Yin's fame at this time was also a reasonable reminder.

Zhu Youtang was silent for a while, and did not answer Zhang Zhou directly.

Dai Yi said: "Mr. Zhang, Tang Yin's fame is insignificant. If he is really talented, it will be easy to take the exam later. Why should he be on the cusp of the storm and push him to be a Jinshi?"

"No." Zhu Youtang said, "Bingkuan's situation is actually the same as Tang Yin's. I helped Bingkuan, so I should treat Tang Yin's affairs equally."

Dai Yi was taken aback.

The emperor changed his mind so quickly because Zhang Zhou spoke for Tang Yin?
Zhu Youtang looked at Zhang Zhou again and said, "Bingkuan, it's okay to protect Tang Yin, but what I think is, can the discussion of scholars be calmed down? Will it intensify?"

Zhang Zhoudao: "Your Majesty, what the scholars want is to vent their emotions. The court investigated and gave them an explanation. This is the grace of His Majesty and the court. If there are still people who want to continue to mess around, let them provide evidence instead of just accommodating. Besides, Your Majesty still has Cheng Minzheng who hasn't asked detailed questions yet? He should make it clear to the outside world."

"How?" Zhu Youtang frowned.

Even Dai Yi and others did not understand.

Can Cheng Minzheng tell the world clearly?Continue to talk about "you can't wrong me if there is no evidence"?
"Your Majesty, in fact, it depends on Cheng Minzheng's own consciousness and whether he is willing to sacrifice his temporary official career to calm the discussion. As long as he takes a step back, those who intend to target him will definitely not make things difficult for him," Zhang Zhou said.

Zhu Youtang seemed to understand but nodded and said: "That is to let him resign temporarily."

The reason is obvious.

The reason why you, Cheng Minzheng, were attacked twice by so many people is because you, Liu Jian and Li Dongyang are not in the same group, and the emperor intends to train you to be the fourth member of the cabinet, and there are many people He covets your position as a Hanlin bachelor, so he will continue to bombard you.

As long as you withdraw, people outside will naturally stop talking when they see that their goals have been achieved.

It's not that civil servants don't have the idea of ​​killing you, but the key is that no one has evidence of your indictment. Without evidence, getting the result that makes you dismissed is enough to calm things down.

People like Liu Jian and Li Dongyang are shameless people. As long as you are willing to give up your position, they may even help you.

Zhu Youtang thought for a while, and sighed: "I'm afraid that if he becomes an official, the matter will not be settled so easily, but since you have said everything about Bingkuan, I will always try. Because even if we investigate, there will be no one. As a result, the debate is still going on.”

The emperor's words actually represented his inner conflict.

He wanted to sacrifice Tang Yin and Xu Jing together, but he felt that it might not be meaningful to do so. It is rare that now there is an aide who can see through the whole situation and give him advice without hiding his identity as a literati, telling him that he should protect Tang Yin and sacrifice Cheng Minzheng's official career , It is tantamount to helping him make a decision when he is hesitating.

Both options are not good, so it is better to listen to Zhang Zhou first.

From the perspective of inner tendency, Zhu Youtang is very dependent on Zhang Zhou, because those who listened to Zhang Zhou a few times before have gained a lot of benefits, so it makes no sense to insist on going his own way to sing against Zhang Zhou this time.

……

……

Under Zhang Zhou's suggestion, Zhu Youtang decided to retain Tang Yin's status as a tribute.

Seeing that it was going to be dusk, Zhu Youtang still wanted to keep Zhang Zhou in the palace for dinner, Xiao Jing who was next to him asked: "Then, Your Majesty, should we just let Nei Lian fill the list, or do we have to go to the court for discussion?"

Zhu Youtang said: "Isn't that the end of the matter? What else do you need to discuss? Tell me tomorrow morning, fill in the list, and publish the list the day after tomorrow."

On this kind of matter, the emperor didn't bother to ask those civil officials.

I can’t explain the unclear question. The most annoying thing for the emperor is to argue with civil officials. This is no longer when Zhu Youtang first came to the throne and relied on civil servants for everything. Recently, his health has also improved, and he has obviously tightened his decision-making. Begin to show imperial power.

"Your Majesty, that minister should also retire." Zhang Zhou said.

"Bingkuan, in fact, I really want to chat with you more, but yes, later on you won the Jinshi, and you will have plenty of time to chat after entering the palace. In this way, when you leave the palace, talk to Xiao Jing, and see how you can make Cheng Minzheng Be sensible, there have been more and more memorials requesting him to be detained in recent days, if he continues to be so obsessed, I'm afraid I won't be able to help him even if I want to!"

Zhu Youtang felt that it was a good thing for Cheng Minzheng to resign temporarily to avoid the limelight.

But he can't bring it up, it should be asked by Cheng Minzheng, but Cheng Minzheng is still pretending to be aloof and feels that he has nothing wrong with it, even the emperor thinks that Cheng Minzheng is a bit stubborn, although you, Cheng Minzheng, have been criticized for nothing According to it, but to put it bluntly, isn't it because you are a troublemaker?
The trouble-maker should be conscious, and quickly settle the matter, so that people don't have to worry about it.

……

……

On the way out of the palace.

Zhang Zhou walked with Xiao Jing, and Xiao Jing naturally asked Zhang Zhou's opinions along the way in accordance with the holy will. Now he was not asking about how the inner curtain officer dealt with Li Dongyang, but how to make Cheng Minzheng take the initiative to admit his mistakes and give up.

"...Mr. Zhang, in fact, even the examination questions were decided by him and Mr. Li Ge. He didn't even participate in the examination papers. As long as the matter is announced to the public, it will be more beneficial to him. But I just want Cheng Minzheng to admit it. If there is a fault, it's difficult, he just doesn't get in. Or... send him to Beizhen Fusi first?"

What Xiao Jing meant, we might as well suggest to Your Majesty to send him to Beizhen Fusi.

Anyway, His Majesty listened to you, and didn't mean to torture Cheng Minzheng, just to scare him or make him succumb.

Zhang Zhoudao: "Why didn't Eunuch Xiao use Xu Jing as a breakthrough?"

"Xu Jing?" Xiao Jing was puzzled.

Zhang Zhou said with a smile: "As far as I know, this Xu Jing is a son of a well-known rich family in Jiangyin. He spends a lot of money. He can visit Cheng Xueshi as soon as he arrives in the capital. Guess how he did it?"

"This...Mr. Zhang, you seem to have said that the servants in Cheng Xueshi's family are not very disciplined, right?" Xiao Jing seems to have found the root of the problem.

"This kind of visit to famous people, without spending some money, how can we meet at will? At that time, there were many people who came to Cheng's mansion to post invitations. Cheng Xueshi, as a Hanlin bachelor, was usually very busy with his official duties. After a day or two of Mu, there are only a handful of people who have the opportunity to meet him, and Xu Jing must have abilities other than his reputation, which is why he made Bachelor Cheng meet him."

Zhang Zhou almost wanted to say that Xu Jing paid a lot of money to see Cheng Minzheng, so he used this as a breakthrough point.

"And then?" Xiao Jing was still not sure what Zhang Zhou meant.

Zhang Zhou said with a smile: "With Xu Jing's confession, show it to Cheng Xueshi. Will Cheng Cheng insist on it like now? I don't know exactly what price Xu Jing paid. It still depends on Xu Jing." The result of the self-confession. As for how to get him to confess... I don’t think it’s my business to ask, right?”

Xiao Jing nodded.

If Dongchang wants someone to tell the truth, isn't there a lot of means?

"Based on my calculations, he has been in custody for a few days. If you ask him for money, buy papers, etc., he should not continue to be obsessed with it." Zhang Zhou gave a suggestion.

Xiao Jing nodded with a smile, and said: "Xu Jing's side can make a name for himself, probably Cheng Xueshi's side can also talk about it, but Tang Yin..."

"Tang Yin...hehe, in my opinion, he is just a poor scholar. After following Xu Jing to swagger through the market, does he really have the confidence and strength? But he still has no self-knowledge. He has to compare with this and that. , if it wasn't for his ostentation, how could he be where he is today?" Zhang Zhou seemed to be criticizing Tang Yin.

Xiao Jing thought to himself, actually you, Zhang, are not much better than Tang Yin.

When others want to attack the problem, don't they attack you first?

Xiao Jing said with a smile: "In fact, there are many similarities between Mr. Zhang and Tang Yin. It is probably because of this that Mr. Zhang will help him?"

This time Xiao Jing saw it for real. If Zhang Zhou hadn't spoken for Tang Yin just now, the emperor would have erased Tang Yin's name as a tribute. In the future, whether Tang Yin would have the opportunity to take the exam again is still a matter of opinion. In this case, Tang Yin will encounter some inhuman treatment when he cannot prove his innocence.

Zhang Zhou really did it, while scolding Tang Yin for being ignorant, while helping Tang Yin out of the sea of ​​suffering.

Zhang Zhou said with a smile: "It's not because of this, who made him my junior who didn't go through the school?"

"what?"

Xiao Jing would never have thought that Zhang Zhou would have such a tricky starting point.

Junior brother who has never been through the door...

The relationship is because you once made a bet and said that if Tang Yin loses, he will enter your teacher's school, so you will help Tang Yin?
Xiao Jing shook his head helplessly and sighed, he was still thinking to himself, this Mr. Zhang's way of thinking is really different from ordinary people.

……

……

The next day, there was a court meeting at the Meridian Gate.

All the ministers are waiting for the emperor to discuss with them the progress of the test paper. After all, the list will be released in the next day. It stands to reason that the filling of the list will be completed on the same day, and the work of the inner curtain official will also be over.

However, Zhu Youtang didn't mention a single word about the issue until the end of the court meeting. Even some officials came out to mention related matters, but Zhu Youtang stopped them.

In the end, Liu Jian came out to inquire as the first assistant: "...Your Majesty, I heard that the chief examiner of the inner curtain of the examination gave a briefing on the case. I don't know how to deal with the announcement of the examination tomorrow?"

Zhu Youtang said: "Mr. Li Ge checked in the inner curtain, and there were four questionable papers, but no one was involved in the case, and Cheng Minzheng never participated in the examination papers from the beginning to the end, and none of the candidates came from him. The one who was selected was based solely on the fact that he wrote the topic in advance, and the topic was also discussed between him and Li Gelao, as evidenced by Li Gelao’s memorabilia. Dare I ask you, how do I want to check it?"

Cheng Minzheng did not write the questions alone. Cheng Minzheng was left aside when the examination papers were graded, but no evidence was found that Zhang Zhou, Tang Yin, and Xu Jing were involved in the questions.

Just ask this matter and continue to investigate, are you playing with Daming's testimonials?

The civil servants present also had a headache.

The key lies in the fact that Hua Chang and the scholars outside had no idea that the emperor could find another way to deprive Cheng Minzheng of the qualification to read the papers when they were discussing. The outsiders rumored how Cheng Minzheng used the pre-examination questions, and discussed with Tang Yin and the others, what to use? Code words to select these people... and said how much money Cheng Minzheng would charge for choosing a person...

The rumors are very evil, but now the first one to come up has been rejected.

In the case that Cheng Minzheng didn't even read the test papers, to tell the truth, at most, Cheng Minzheng may have discussed with outsiders in advance about the possible questions, but this kind of accusation requires more evidence links, and the test papers are all the same. Determine whether a person has accepted the question or not?
Even Li Dongyang, who is well-known and resourceful, investigated Neilian for a long time, but did not arrest Tang Yin and others.

"Then Your Majesty, since Cheng Minzheng is not guilty of the test, why did you deprive him of the qualification to be the chief examiner before the beginning of the inner curtain marking?"

It was Min Gui who came out to question.

In this matter, Min Gui seemed to be more active than anyone else. It seemed that the person who most wanted to put Cheng Minzheng to death was Min Gui.

Zhu Youtang replied coldly: "Don't you gentlemen know why I did this?"

Min Gui wanted to question the emperor, but instead he was questioned by the emperor.

Min Gui was about to say it, of course we didn't know, and then he found that Xie Qian was giving him a wink, telling him to stop talking.

Many people actually understood that the emperor deprived Cheng Minzheng of the qualification to mark papers in advance, not only because there were rumors outside after the exam, but also because Cheng Minzheng had been involved in an absurd incident when the main examiner was not yet determined. In the case of the vend.

This is the second time.

And the last time, without any basis, the civil servants proposed to investigate Cheng Minzheng, and the instigator at that time was Li Dongyang, who was also the examiner for this exam.

Until now, many people have not understood why Li Dongyang targeted Cheng Minzheng without any evidence.

Many people attacked Cheng Minzheng this time because they found "inspiration" from Li Dongyang's attack on Cheng Minzheng last time.

What they didn't know was that in the last quiz, Li Dongyang asked the emperor to check it out because he was overwhelmed by the topic passed on from the outside to the one he had thought up in his mind, instead of specifically targeting Cheng Minzheng.

Many people misunderstood it, thinking that the cabinet wanted to pull Cheng Minzheng down.

Zhu Youtang said: "After tomorrow's release of the list, if there are any more voices of discussion, there must be evidence. I will continue to question Cheng Minzheng and Xu Jing. If the two of them give and receive selflessly, I will return their innocence. If there are some I will never tolerate things that are shameful."

The minister soon heard something different from the previous one.

Not only did the emperor pull Zhang Zhou away, it seemed that even Tang Yin was gone this time. Does this mean that... Tang Yin's suspicion was also cleared?
(End of this chapter)