Tang Dynasty, my wife Wu Zetian

Chapter 69: The Sage Calls (First Order)

The night is deep.

Cui Mansion, study.

When Cui Wenhan entered the study, Lai Ji was standing by the window with his back to him. From his back, one could see Lai Ji's anger at the moment.

Cui Wenhan took a deep breath and said, "Prime Minister, do you have anything to do with me?"

Lai Ji said coldly, "Did you leak the test questions?"

Cui Wenhan knew he would ask this, so he said calmly, "No."

Lai Ji turned around abruptly and sneered, "Besides Your Majesty and our Prime Ministers, you're the only one who knows the exam questions. If it wasn't you who leaked it, who else could it be?"

Cui Wenhan said, "You must have heard about Wei Daiju's story. In my humble opinion, he was just talking nonsense after drinking. Why should you take it seriously?"

Lai Ji asked sternly, "Then why did you go to the Yongzhou Sima and ask him to secretly send someone to block the news?"

Cui Wenhan was shocked and thought to himself, "How come he even knows this?"

After a long silence, Cui Wenhan said, "Whether true or not, if this matter gets out, it will have a negative impact on the imperial examination. That's why I've asked Dugu Sima to keep the news secret."

Lai Ji stared at him and said, "Cui Wenhan, do you know that if you act on your own, you will harm both me and the Grand Marshal Changsun?"

Cui Wenhan lowered his head and said nothing.

Lai Ji took a deep breath and said, "I only have one question now. Why did you leak the exam questions? What benefits will it bring to you?"

Cui Wenhan moved his lips, but in the end he said nothing.

Lai Ji said coldly: "If you don't tell me now, don't regret it in the future!"

Cui Wenhan remained silent.

Lai Ji said no more and left.

Cui Wenhan sighed, took out a bottle of wine from the bookcase, sat quietly in a chair, and drank alone.

It was indeed he who leaked the test questions, but he could do nothing about it.

Before Changsun Wuji came to him, many aristocratic families had already come to him, hoping to use the Tongbang system to allow their children to pass the imperial examinations.

Cui Wenhan didn't care about the generous gifts from these people, but connections were crucial.

Now that Chu Suiliang has been exiled, his situation in the court is very difficult, and it is very likely that he will never be promoted in his lifetime.

Therefore, every connection he has may become a stepping stone for his future promotion.

However, Changsun Wuji asked him to change the general list, so that only a small number of children from aristocratic families were on the list, and they were ranked at the bottom.

Cui Wenhan no longer had any legal possibility to use his power as the chief examiner to help them pass the exam, so the only way left was to leak the exam questions.

The aristocratic faction is different from the other two factions. Although it is headed by Zhangsun Wuji, it actually considers its own interests more.

The century-old family has seen too many ups and downs, and they all understand one thing: there are no eternal allies, and the only one you can rely on is yourself.

They don't care whether it was Changsun Wuji's order or not.

If they fail to fulfill their promise, they will only take revenge on Cui Wenhan.

To offend so many noble families and dignitaries is more serious than to offend Changsun Wuji.

Changsun Wuji would still care about his reputation and at most banish him from Chang'an.

These noble families don’t care about this. If one person steps on him, he will be doomed.

So he had no choice.

Moreover, although this matter is risky, we are on the same boat with so many noble families.

Although Changsun Wuji was reluctant, he was tied to him because of the matter of the list.

So although this matter seemed dangerous, with so many important figures protecting him, he decided to take the risk.

On February 12, the imperial examination was held as scheduled.

During the Tang Dynasty, there was no special examination hall for the imperial examinations, and the examinations were held in the Secretariat.

Officials from the Ministry of Personnel cleared some government offices in advance, renovated them, and used them as examination halls for the candidates.

During this period, candidates did not take the exam alone in a small space, but sat together in several spacious halls.

In addition to the examiners' inspections, supervising examiners such as Di Renjie were also patrolling the hall.

The room that Di Renjie inspected was the examination room C2.

In the examination room, the only person he knew was Du Yijian, but he did not pay attention to Du Yijian and only focused his attention on several children from aristocratic families.

When he saw these people writing furiously, a smile appeared on his face.

The three exams were held consecutively, and there was only a light rain on the middle day. Everything else went smoothly.

By late February, the examiners had finished marking the papers. After some discussion, they finalized the list of successful candidates and handed it to Cui Wenhan.

Because the difficulty of the second grade was reduced, there were many more people who passed the exam this time, with more than 30 people passing the Jinshi exam and more than 80 people passing the Mingjing exam, totaling over 100 people.

Seeing that all the selected sons of noble families were among them, Cui Wenhan prepared to take the examination report to the Ministry of Personnel.

Suddenly, he saw a name on the list, Gao Youdao.

He had a deep memory of this person. It was he who personally read and reviewed the papers and rejected them.

Such people must not be on the list, otherwise they will reveal what happened in the past.

Without hesitation, he crossed out Gao Youdao's name and ordered the examiners to find a replacement. After the new list was drawn up, he took the list of successful candidates to the Ministry of Personnel.

In the afternoon, the Ministry of Personnel drafted the list and submitted it to Ganlu Palace in person by the Minister of Personnel Xu Yushi.

Li Zhi picked up the memorial and read it carefully, and was stunned.

Because of the previous announcement, he originally thought that the aristocratic families would be aware of it and would be more restrained.

However, it turned out that most of the candidates on the list of Jinshi were children of aristocratic families, and all of them were at the top of the list.

As he expected, Gao Youdao was not on the list.

Li Zhi smiled slightly, wrote the word "yes" on the memorial, and ordered Xu Yushi to send it directly to the Secretariat to draft the imperial edict.

A few days later, the list of successful candidates was posted on the south wall of the Ministry of Personnel's courtyard.

The area around the south wall was already packed with candidates.

Lu Zhaolin suddenly laughed out loud and said, "Haha, I got into high school!"

Turning around, he saw Du Yijian and Gao Youdao looking pale. He quickly dropped his smile and said to them, "My two buddies, aren't you on the list?"

Du Yijian gritted his teeth and said, "Most of them are from aristocratic families, how could our names be among them?"

In his resentment, he also took his anger out on Lu Zhaolin, obviously saying that you were only able to make the list because of your aristocratic family background.

The anger on Lu Zhaolin's face disappeared, but he understood his mood at the moment, suppressed his anger, and said, "Don't be angry, I'll treat you to a drink, and there will be another chance next year."

Gao Youdao patted Du Yijian on the shoulder and said with a smile, "Brother Lu is right. Why be depressed? Just take the exam again next year."

Du Yijian looked at Gao Youdao in surprise.

"Brother Gao, you..."

Just then, a sneer came from the side.

"Hey, isn't this Xiangyang'er and Huzhou'er? You look so happy, you must have passed the high school entrance exam. I wonder what place you got?"

The people who came were several young men from aristocratic families headed by Wei Daiju.

Lu Zhaolin shouted, "Wei Daiju, you only passed the exam because you got the test questions in advance. Don't be so arrogant!"

As soon as these words were spoken, they immediately attracted the attention of everyone around.

Wei Daiju was furious and said, "My wife raised him. Do you have any evidence? If not, don't blame me for going to Yongzhou Prefecture to sue you!"

Just as Lu Zhaolin was about to say something else, a cold voice suddenly came.

"Mr. Lu, what did you just say?"

Lu Zhaolin turned around and was shocked.

The crowd parted and several officials came over, led by Cui Wenhan.

Lu Zhaolin didn't dare to say anything more. He bowed and said, "Student Lu Zhaolin, I pay my respects to Doctor Cui."

Cui Wenhan snorted, then turned to the crowd and said loudly, "Fellow candidates, don't lose heart! There are only a limited number of places in the imperial examination each year. As long as you continue to work hard, there will be no worries about not getting your name on the list."

The candidates around were whispering to each other, and many of them turned around and left.

Cui Wenhan added, "Jinshi scholars, don't be too happy too soon. You entered officialdom to relieve the emperor's worries and serve the people. Remember your responsibilities. If anyone dares to abuse public office for personal gain, embezzle, or accept bribes in the future, I, Cui, will be the first to punish him!"

All the scholars said in unison: "Remember the master's words."

During the Tang Dynasty, Jinshi candidates called the chief examiner "zuozhu", and all Jinshi candidates were equivalent to the chief examiner's disciples.

Cui Wenhan smiled and said, "Very good. The emperor has decreed that all the Jinshi candidates should come to the palace for an audience. You should go change your clothes first."

The scholars were overjoyed and followed Cui Wenhan one after another.

Lu Zhaolin looked at Du Yijian, then at Gao Youdao, and sighed, "My two lords, I'm leaving first. I'll come back to see you after I see the emperor."

Gao Youdao bowed and said, "Brother Lu, please do as you please."

After a while, the scholars changed their clothes and headed towards the palace.

Each of them rode a horse, wearing a red robe, and rode in two teams on the wide Zhuque Street, with the Jinwu Guards displaying ceremonial guards beside them.

The surroundings were filled with onlookers. Someone took the opportunity to say to his son, "A Bao, see? If you want to be as impressive as them in the future, you have to study hard!"

Outside the Ministry of Personnel's courtyard, Du Yijian took out the scroll from his sleeve and tore it to pieces.

Gao Youdao comforted him softly.

Just then, a loud voice came from afar.

"Mr. Gao, how are you these days?"

Gao Youdao turned around and saw a strong man walking towards him. It was Xue Rengui.

"General Xue, I, ah, I still didn't pass the exam..." Gao Youdao was a little embarrassed.

"Are you still planning to take the exam?" Xue Rengui asked.

"of course."

Xue Rengui smiled and said, "That's good. You don't have to wait until next year. Come with me into the palace now and take the exam again."

Gao Youdao was surprised and asked, "Now?"

Xue Rengui nodded and said in a deep voice: "This is the will of the Saint. And Mr. Du Yijian, you will also come with me into the palace and take part in the palace examination again."

(End of this chapter)