The elite did not migrate south

Chapter 772: North-South List Case
Cao Mao sat in the upper seat and said nothing.

How many years has it been?

Evil officials and corrupt officials were killed in batches.

The big clans were driven away wave after wave.

There is not a single idle year, but even in such circumstances, these evil people seem to be endless and they keep popping up.

The sun was shining brightly. Cao Mao sat in the upper seat, looking up as if he wanted to look at the sun through the ceiling.

The scorching sun shines on the land of Wei, but under the sunlight, countless twisted shadows and sins are twisting their bodies, waiting for the sunset.

Even Cao Mao felt tired again at this moment.

The last time I felt this depressed was when I was in Yongzhou.

Cao Mao even once suspected that all his efforts seemed to be in vain. As soon as he died, all the evil spirits would crawl out from the shadows and destroy all his efforts.

Although Cao Mao was still quite young at this moment, his heart seemed to be full of vicissitudes of life.

Why can't these people be killed or eliminated?!
"His Majesty!"

He Zeng's voice interrupted Cao Mao's deep fantasy. He slowly lowered his head and looked at his own Sikong.

In Cao Mao's opinion, He Zeng was indeed one of the rare smart people in the big family.

This guy has been diligently helping Cao Mao over the years, and has shown no mercy to his former friends. At the same time, he has also made a series of deployments for his clan.

He did something really amazing.

He himself divided his own clan.

A great man once said: Chinese men are oppressed by three mountains: political power, divine power, and patriarchy, while women have to face the husband's power on top of these three mountains.

The patriarchy is the most important thing in the ancient family. The relationship between father and son in ancient times is the relationship between monarch and minister.

If the king wants his subject to die, the subject may not necessarily die; but if the father wants his son to die, the son must die.

During the Han Dynasty, some people could survive by exposing their brothers, husbands, or even sons, but there was no such thing as a son betraying his father by exposing his father to survive. This was more serious than a minister betraying the emperor.

If a son verbally abuses or beats his father, which is a crime of disobedience, occurs in the local area, it is no different from a rebellion. First, the local county magistrate will be held accountable, and then the prefect and governor. No one can escape. Such cases are directly taken over by the imperial court, and the local authorities can only wait to be held accountable together.

If we enlarge this kind of family, we will get a large clan.

Clans exist based on blood relations. The person who makes the decision in a clan is often the oldest and most influential person in the clan, who suppresses everyone based on blood relations. He or she will manage and exploit the rest of the clan members as a father, mother or elder.

The differences in levels are further divided.

This kind of clan relationship is almost impossible to break.

The hierarchy within the clan of the aristocratic family is probably the most detailed and complete.

As the leader of the He family of Chen County, He Zeng held great power in the clan.

He knew the emperor's thoughts and his future plans, so he chose to split his own clan. He drove many of his relatives out of their homeland, forcing them to settle in different places. Split the clan! Split the clan!

Although such an approach could easily cause controversy and damage his reputation, why would he care about that?

Anyway, my reputation has been ruined for a long time.

He Zeng's behavior was relatively effective, and he did not hide it from the emperor. Cao Mao certainly knew what he had done, but he did not say much.

He never knew whether his actions could save the entire clan, but he had to give it a try.

Cao Mao looked at him.

The emperor's eyes looked somewhat dangerous at this moment.

"Your Majesty, I am late. What are your instructions?"

He Zeng hurriedly acted like a real hawk and showed more enthusiasm. He didn't want to be affected by other things.

Especially when the emperor is in a bad mood.

Cao Mao sneered and asked, "Have you heard about what happened in the Imperial Academy?"

I have never been sweating profusely.

Did something happen in the Imperial College?
He really didn't know that He had been busy doing something else these days.

When the emperor went to Yongzhou earlier, he issued two imperial edicts.

The second one was aimed at the provincial governors, while the first one was mainly aimed at all kinds of checkpoint guards. Naturally, the Censorate could not remain indifferent. He Zeng personally monitored the checkpoint guards in various places and found many traitors, who were currently being detained.

He Zeng hurriedly explained, "Your Majesty, I am indeed."

"If you don't know, then you don't know. I know you're doing something else. Fang Caiping came to tell me that the scholars in the Imperial College are saying that there is large-scale cheating in the imperial examinations."

He Zeng was so shocked that he almost jumped up. "Your Majesty! How is this possible?!"

Today's imperial examination system has been improved a lot and has been renamed. The Maocai of the Han Dynasty was used again because there was no need to avoid taboos for Emperor Guangwu, so it was changed to Xiucai. Anyone who passed the county-level examination could become a Xiucai, which was held once a year. After becoming a Xiucai, there would be a county examination every three years. At the same time, different subjects were divided, and branches such as subject examinations gradually appeared.

In fact, my country's imperial examination system was not formed in one day. It was an examination system that existed since the Qin Dynasty and developed step by step before finally taking shape.

The Wei and Jin Dynasties were an era of great change. The Zhongzheng system was combined with examinations. Although family background was more important than test scores at that time,
However, he never admits that there is large-scale cheating in the imperial examinations today.

This was no longer the crude system of the past; it had gradually improved. He believed one or two people cheated, but to say there was widespread fraud was sheer bullshit!

"This is impossible, whether it is setting questions or marking them in the end."

"Okay, no need to explain."

"I don't suspect cheating in the imperial examinations. This is clearly someone instigating something, their goal is to sabotage the exams, oppose my benevolent policies, and frame my favorite ministers!!"

At this moment, He Zeng finally understood where the emperor's anger came from.

His expression suddenly turned serious.

"Your Majesty! Please rest assured. I will thoroughly investigate this matter and will not let off any traitor who dares to oppose Your Majesty. I will hunt down all of these scoundrels."

He Zeng was speaking when suddenly a servant walked in, "Your Majesty, the Imperial Guard Wan Yu requests an audience!"

"Ok?"

Wan Yu was a favorite of Sun Hao in the past. Later, in order to appease the ministers of Wu State, Cao Mao promoted them. Wan Yu was first sent to the Censorate by Cao Mao.

Later, he was arranged to be a knight by his side, so that he could participate in important decision-making.

This can also be considered a way to appease the people of Wu.

But why did this guy come to see me?
Cao Mao thought about it and said, "Let him come in too."

Wan Yu soon appeared before Cao Mao. Among the many ministers of the Wu State, Wan Yu was considered to be relatively well-off. Because of his humble background, Cao Mao was quite lenient towards him, and he did not have any clan members who could be relocated.
He was also very grateful for Cao Mao's attention and promotion to him, and often spoke well of Cao Mao in front of other Wu people, which made him even more despised by the Wu people.

Wan Yu hurriedly bowed to greet him with a very respectful attitude.

Cao Mao discovered that among the ministers of the three kingdoms that had been conquered, the ministers of Wu were the most respectful to him.

When they met during the worship service, they didn't even dare to look at me, and always kept their heads down when reporting on their work.

At the same time, when asked to sit down, they will definitely adopt the most correct way of kneeling, and will not move even if they sit for a long time.

Cao Mao was also amazed by this. People in the Central Plains said that Wu was a barbarian land, but look at their etiquette, it's so authentic!
Everyone was very respectful and there was no impoliteness at all.

He Zeng looked at this guy with a very cold attitude towards him and did not return the greeting.

Wan Yu said, "Your Majesty, I have an important matter to report."

"You say it."

"Many scholars today suspect that the imperial examinations were rigged and are dissatisfied with the results, and this dissatisfaction is growing."

The situation reported by Wan Yu was similar to what Guo Ping said, but more comprehensive than what Guo Ping said.

Cao Mao listened to him calmly, then said, "I asked the Minister of Works to come here for this matter."

Wan Yu was stunned for a moment, then smiled and said, "Your Majesty, there's no need for Sikong to take charge of this matter."

"Oh? If this happened after the imperial examination, then there would be no need. But now that the imperial examination has been over for so long, and the public has suddenly spread this matter, it is natural that the Minister of Works needs to take action."

Wan Yu shook his head. "Your Majesty, perhaps someone is fanning the flames, but that's not the only reason. If Sikong were to take drastic measures, it would be disastrous."

"Oh?"

Before Cao Mao could ask more questions, He Zeng couldn't help but ask, because it was he who arranged all the matters concerning supervising the examination hall.

"Why, Wan Jun, are you saying there really was cheating?!"

Wan Yu shook his head, "That's not the case."

"Your Majesty, I wonder if you have seen the students who entered this year. They are basically from Yan, Yu, Qing, Xu and other places. They are all from the Central Plains. Not to mention Yongliang, there is not even Jizhou to be found, let alone Shu, Wu and other places."

"This is because these areas have suffered less war and have a very high level of civil governance, while the rest of the country has either suffered from war or other unrest. In other words, this is because the scholars in the Central Plains are of the highest quality and the most outstanding."

"However, Your Majesty, you should know that this may not be the case in the eyes of scholars from other places."

"Those who made it to the list were all scholars from the Central Plains, while almost no scholars from the South or even the border areas passed. What were they thinking?"

"Back when the results were announced, scholars from Yang, Jing, Xiang, and other states came to me, asking if there was any inside information, asking if scholars from Wu were not accepted."

Cao Mao immediately narrowed his eyes.

The North-South List Case?!
(End of this chapter)