Tang Dynasty, my wife Wu Zetian

Chapter 68 Li Zhi's Plan (First Order)

That morning, Li Zhi was handling government affairs in Ganlu Hall, and Di Renjie asked for a meeting outside the hall.

When Di Renjie walked into the hall, he was holding a scroll in his hand.

"Your Majesty, the notice is out."

Li Zhi took it and looked at it carefully. There were exactly fifty people on the list. The first one was a man named Li Yun, the second one was Lu Zhaolin, and the third one was Liu Yifei.

After reading through all of them, Li Zhi didn't see Gao Youdao's name. He frowned and asked, "Didn't Gao Youdao ask anyone to come and see him?"

Di Renjie said, "Your Majesty, Gao Youdao, with Du Yijian's recommendation, has visited the Wang family in Taiyuan."

Li Zhi asked, "Du Yijian?"

Di Renjie said, "Du Yijian was also an examinee at the same time as me. Like Gao Youdao, he didn't pass the exam, so he's here to take the exam this year as well."

Li Zhi nodded and asked, "Who are Li Yun and Liu Yifei?"

Di Renjie thought to himself, "Your Majesty, why didn't you ask about Lu Zhaolin? Could it be that you already know about him?" He quickly replied, "Your Majesty, Li Yun is the nephew of Li Yifu, and Liu Yifei is the brother-in-law of General Xue."

Li Zhi's eyes flashed, and he asked Di Renjie about the origins of the following people.

As a result, they were either the children of pro-military officials or the children of pro-clean officials.

Li Zhi was surprised: "Are there no children from aristocratic families on the list?"

Di Renjie said, "Your Majesty, the children of noble families are all ranked after the twenty-fifth place."

Li Zhi took a deep breath and said slowly, "Di Qing, what do you think about this?"

Di Renjie said, "I think Cui Wenhan may have noticed something, or someone may have warned him, so he put the children of the noble families at the back so that they would not attract attention."

Li Zhi nodded.

The Aristocratic Family Faction placed the Martial Arts Faction and the Clean Stream Faction in front as meat shields.

If something happens, these two factions will naturally bear the brunt of the consequences. If nothing happens, they can still gain benefits.

Li Zhi asked, "Mr. Di, how do you think we should deal with this?"

Di Renjie said, "I don't think there's any need to worry. Cui Wenhan and the people behind him are only focused on what's above, but not on what's below."

Li Zhi smiled slightly and said, "Are you talking about Gao Youdao?"

"Yes, I predict that Gao Youdao will still fail to make the list this time. Then, we can use him to break the deadlock."

Li Zhi nodded, thought for a moment, then summoned Xue Rengui and asked him, "Mr. Xue, have you also paid your respects to Cui Wenhan?"

Xue Rengui looked stunned and said, "I have never looked for Cui Wenhan."

Li Zhi asked again, "How is your brother-in-law's talent?"

Xue Rengui hesitated for a moment and said, "It can only be considered below average."

Li Zhi nodded, said nothing more, and asked the two to leave.

After Xue Rengui left the palace, he caught up with Di Renjie and asked, "Di Shaoqing, what did His Majesty mean by those questions just now?"

Di Renjie carefully observed his expression and asked, "General Xue, do you really not know?"

Xue Rengui shook his head.

Di Renjie glanced around and whispered, "General Xue, I have a small suggestion."

Xue Rengui said, "Sir Di, please speak."

Di Renjie said, "Tell your brother-in-law not to participate in this imperial examination."

Xue Rengui vaguely understood something and said, "Thank you for your guidance."

Not long after the two left Ganlu Palace, Li Yifu and Liu Rengui were summoned by Li Zhi.

Li Zhi asked the two men whether their clan members had taken the imperial examinations, and also asked about their talents and learning. He also encouraged and praised them a few words, and then let them leave.

Li Yifu and Liu Rengui both felt that the emperor's attitude was different, but they had a bad relationship, so they did not discuss it and returned to their respective offices.

After leaving the government office, Liu Rengui returned home.

After he became prime minister, Li Zhi gave him a three-story house so that he no longer had to live in friends' homes.

He sat at home for a while, then ordered people to invite Shangguan Yi and Xu Xiaode over and told them what Li Zhi had said during the day.

Xu Xiaode's face was solemn. He said, "I was just about to say this. My daughter sent me a letter with a poem inside. It contained a warning."

Shangguan Yi's face paled slightly as he said, "It must be related to the imperial examination. I have a cousin who also took the exam this year. I didn't do anything to help him, but he still made it onto the list."

Liu Rengui said in a deep voice: "Cui Wenhan is a disciple of Chu Suiliang. Now that Chu Suiliang is not in the capital, he must be following Zhangsun Wuji's orders."

Xu Xiaode slammed the table and said angrily, "Changsun Wuji wants to ruin our reputation!"

Liu Rengui pondered for a moment and said, "I'm afraid the matter is not that simple, otherwise His Majesty would not have called me over to warn him."

Shangguan Yi thought for a moment and said, "No matter what, we can't get involved in this mess. I'm going to find Cui Wenhan and ask him to revise the list."

Liu Rengui raised his hand and said, "No, if this is really planned by Your Majesty, acting rashly may ruin His Majesty's plan."

Xu Xiaode asked anxiously, "What should we do?"

Liu Rengui: "First, go back and tell the clan members who are taking the imperial examinations to strictly prohibit cheating. As for the rest, we can just wait and see what happens."

Xu Xiaode asked, "What if Cui Wenhan deliberately played tricks on us and made us lose the list?"

Shangguan Yi sneered and said, "If he dares to do this, we will impeach him!" The three of them made a decision and summoned all the Qingliu officials that night to unify the front and wait for the day of the imperial examination.

……

On the evening of the 11th, the Zheng Hall was established.

Li Zhi was hugging Wu Meiniang, holding one of her hands and teaching her how to paint.

Although Li Zhi was not good at calligraphy, he was very good at sketching.

This ability of his was first discovered by Princess Gao An.

She accidentally saw Li Zhi draw a picture of Cuju with charcoal, in which several princes and princesses were drawn with naive looks, so she acted coquettishly and asked Li Zhi to draw a separate picture for her.

After the painting was finished, Princess Gao An showed it off everywhere and told everyone she met that it was Ye Ye who painted it for her. She was so proud of herself.

The news soon spread in the palace.

After hearing about it, Wu Meiniang borrowed the portrait from Princess Gao An, studied it for a long time, and then, following Li Zhi's example, drew a sketch of Li Zhi with charcoal.

Although she was smart, she didn't know the trick and her painting was not very good. She drew Li Zhi as round.

After showing it to Li Zhi, Li Zhi couldn't help laughing, so he went to Lizheng Hall with her and taught her sketching step by step.

Just as the two were teaching, Wang Fusheng suddenly walked in with a strange look on his face, as if something had happened.

Li Zhi then let go of Wu Meiniang's hand and asked Wang Fusheng, "Fusheng, what's wrong?"

Wang Fusheng whispered, "Your Majesty, there's a rumor out there that... the imperial examination questions have been leaked."

Li Zhi's face changed slightly, and he asked, "Is the information accurate?"

Wu Meiniang also raised her eyebrows and looked at Wang Fusheng.

Wang Fusheng said, "This news has something to do with Di Shaoqing, so it should be correct."

Li Zhi's eyes flickered a few times, and a smile gradually appeared on his face.

He wanted to cause problems in the imperial examinations. The bigger the problems were, the easier it would be for him to correct them.

Now that something has gone wrong, and it's such a big thing as the exam questions being leaked, how can he not be happy?

"Tell me in detail how it was leaked and why it is related to Di Renjie?" He sat down on the chair.

Wang Fusheng spoke in a soft voice.

It turned out that Di Renjie, Gao Youdao, Du Yijian, Lu Zhaolin and others were drinking together in a restaurant this afternoon and toasting to each other for a better future.

It just so happened that in the private room next door, there were also several young men from wealthy families drinking. They were making a lot of noise, and there was also the sound of women laughing.

Lu Zhaolin couldn't stand it anymore, so he went to remind them to keep their voices down.

As a result, the two sides started arguing, and during the argument, both groups knew that the other was a candidate.

Gao Youdao and Du Yijian had both suffered losses and didn't want to cause trouble.

However, Lu Zhaolin was a descendant of a prominent family, one of the Five Surnames and Seven Noble Families. His family background was superior to the other party's, so naturally he was unwilling to suffer any loss.

Scholars have their own way of quarreling. Lu Zhaolin was proud of his talent and used poetry to ridicule the aristocratic man across from him.

Those children from aristocratic families were not as talented as the others, so they could only make harsh promises, saying that they would definitely be on the list. As for Lu Zhaolin and others, no matter how talented they were or how wealthy their family background was, they would not be able to make the list.

Di Renjie had been sitting there in silence, but upon hearing this, he suddenly burst into laughter, sneering at the other party for being a fool and overestimating his own abilities.

Even Lu Zhaolin was surprised by his arrogant attitude.

A young man from a noble family opposite him was so provoked and drunk that he impulsively told others what he knew about the exam questions.

As soon as this statement came out, everyone was shocked.

Although the young man's companions tried their best to correct him, saying that he was just drunk and talking nonsense.

But once the words are spoken and the water is spilled, it is too late.

Half an hour after the incident, a force secretly blocked the news, and some people were even taken away by Yongzhou government officials for discussing the matter.

If it weren't for the special identities of Di Renjie and Lu Zhaolin, I'm afraid they would also be invited to have tea by Yongzhou Prefecture.

Li Zhi shook his head secretly. This is what is called trying to cover up one's own mistake. The more people block the news, the more it proves that this matter is true.

Li Zhi thought for a moment and asked, "What's the name of that noble family kid?"

Wang Fusheng said, "The Jingzhao Wei family, Wei Daiju."

Li Zhi said: "Very good, you can go."

Wu Meiniang had been listening silently, her eyes flickering, but she said nothing.

Li Zhi glanced at her and said, "Mei Niang, what are you thinking about?"

Wu Meiniang smiled and said, "I have actually been wondering why Your Majesty did not adopt my other two suggestions, and it is only now that I understand."

Li Zhi said: "Oh, why?"

Wu Meiniang smiled and said, "Your Majesty deliberately appointed Cui Wenhan as the chief examiner because he wanted all the civil and military officials in the court to see the shortcomings of the imperial examination clearly, so that when the time comes, the imperial examination can be improved without any obstacles."

Li Zhi nodded and said, "The person behind Cui Wenhan should have figured it out. That's why I'm a little curious about how the exam questions were leaked."

(End of this chapter)