Tang Dynasty, my wife Wu Zetian

Chapter 71 Changsun Wuji's Methods

After Zhangsun Wuji expressed his position, Liu Rengui, Cui Dunli, Yu Zhining and Li Ji also came forward to support the proposal.

Li Zhi immediately asked the eight prime ministers whether the questions had been leaked, and all eight prime ministers denied it.

Li Zhi finally turned his gaze to Cui Wenhan and asked, "Doctor Cui, did you leak the exam questions?"

Cui Wenhan gritted his teeth and said, "I did not leak the exam questions."

Li Zhi said, "Very good, none of you leaked the exam questions. Where is the Dali Temple Minister?"

Xin Mao stepped out and said, "I am here."

Li Zhi said, "The crime of deceiving the emperor, plus the crime of leaking the exam questions, if both crimes are punished together, what crime should be punished?"

Xin Maojiang hesitated and said, "This..."

Xu Jingzong stepped out and said, "Your Majesty, I believe that the three clans should be exterminated!"

Cui Wenhan trembled all over, his whole body shaking like a sieve, as if he couldn't breathe.

At this moment, Changsun Wuji said loudly:

"Your Majesty, according to the Yonghui Code, the two crimes combined should result in the death penalty and exile of the entire family, but not the extermination of the entire clan."

Xu Jingzong smiled and said, "General Changsun, the death penalty and exile of his family are the charges for leaking the imperial examination questions. Add to that the crime of deceiving the emperor, and extermination of his entire clan. That's not a bad thing."

Zhang Sun Wuji glanced at him and said, "Minister Xu, do you know where this law about leaking exam questions came from?"

Xu Jingzong frowned slightly and said, "I was just about to ask the Grand Commandant for advice."

Zhang Sun Wuji said calmly, "It is directly inherited from the Zhenguan Law. The Zhenguan Law was also modified when it was established. Did you know that?"

Xu Jingzong's forehead was slightly sweaty and he shook his head.

The current law of the Tang Dynasty is called "Yonghui Law", which was compiled based on the "Zhenguan Law", and the "Zhenguan Law" was compiled by Zhangsun Wuji, Fang Xuanling and others.

After Li Zhi ascended the throne, he ordered the revision of the Yonghui Code, which was also undertaken by Zhangsun Wuji, Yu Zhining and others.

Most of the laws in the Yonghui Code were derived from the Zhenguan Code.

In other words, no one knew more about the laws of the Tang Dynasty than Zhangsun Wuji.

Changsun Wuji slowly said, "There was no such law in the Zhenguan era. Later, during an imperial examination, the test questions were leaked. The late emperor was furious and asked what the punishment should be. The law at the time stipulated that leaking test questions was punishable by exile."

"The late emperor was dissatisfied. He believed that the imperial examination was the foundation of the country. Those who knew the test questions shouldered the emperor's expectations and trust. Leaking the test questions would be a betrayal of this trust and tantamount to deceiving the emperor."

"The late emperor ordered us to amend the Zhenguan Code, changing this crime to death, with no possibility of pardon for previous merits. Therefore, the crime of leaking the exam questions actually includes the crime of deceiving the emperor, and the two crimes cannot be combined."

Xu Jingzong remained silent.

During the reign of Li Shimin, he was unknown in the court and had no part in such major events, so he was completely unaware of them.

Li Zhi glanced at Zhangsun Wuji and said, "Since the law stipulates this, then it will only be counted as the crime of leaking the exam questions."

Zhang Sun Wuji bowed and said, "Your Majesty is wise."

The hall suddenly became quiet, the atmosphere was solemn, and no one spoke.

In the previous contest between Changsun Wuji and Xu Jingzong, Changsun Wuji won with an overwhelming advantage.

At this moment, the residual power of Zhangsun Wuji, who had controlled the government for many years, once again enveloped the hearts of every court official, and no one dared to speak rashly.

Li Zhi had no intention of speaking.

His arrangements were in the side hall next door, so the outcome of the court battle was not important at all.

The emperor sat on the dragon throne, his ministers sat on mats, and only Cui Wenhan knelt on the ground, feeling tormented.

The process of waiting for the verdict is more painful than the verdict itself.

After an unknown amount of time, Di Renjie finally entered the hall, holding a stack of papers in his hands. He bowed and said, "Your Majesty, all the candidates have completed the exam. Here are the papers."

Although the scope of this exam was similar to that of the imperial examination, there were far fewer questions, so the candidates had finished answering them in just over an hour.

Li Zhi waved his hand and said, "For this exam, the eight prime ministers and I will serve as examiners. There will be over a hundred papers, and we will review them on the spot."

Li Zhi ordered people to bring tables and chairs and let the eight prime ministers sit down to review the documents.

The method adopted was cross-marking, with each paper being marked once by two prime ministers each, and Li Zhi serving as the chief examiner.

If the results are the same, they will be passed directly and handed over to Li Zhi for final assessment.

If the two people's comments are different, a third prime minister will review it.

Because there were not many test papers and questions, it took more than an hour for Li Zhi and the eight prime ministers to work together to finish marking them.

Shangguan Yi compiled the rankings. Li Zhi said to Shangguan Yi, "Shangguan, my dear, you will tell everyone the results."

Shangguan Yi agreed and said loudly, "The results of this palace examination are completely different from those of the joint examination. According to the imperial examination standards, more than half of the Jinshi candidates this time failed!"

After listening to this, the ministers began to whisper again.

The person who failed was obviously the one who got the test.

The ministers originally thought that only a few people would get the test questions, but they did not expect that Cui Wenhan would be so bold as to leak the test questions to so many people.

Just then, someone exclaimed, "Be careful, he's going to hit the pillar!"

Everyone turned around and saw Cui Wenhan rushing towards a pillar near the gate.

Unfortunately, before he could run a few steps, someone grabbed him by the back of the neck and lifted him up.

The person who arrested him was Li Ji.

Xue Rengui was actually faster.

However, just as he took a step, Changsun Wuji stood in front of him, seemingly trying to pull Cui Wenhan, but actually blocked Xue Rengui.

Cui Wenhan was not short in stature, but when held in the hands of Li Ji, a man in his sixties, he looked like a chicken.

"Lord Li, please let me go. I am obsessed with money and have failed the court's cultivation and your majesty's trust. Please allow me to die as an apology!"

Li Ji said calmly, "If you truly feel guilty, then cooperate honestly and explain everything clearly. I will give His Majesty an answer and an explanation to all the scholars in the world."

Cui Wenhan said: "This matter was done by me alone, and has nothing to do with others."

Li Yifu smiled and said, "Not necessarily. Those noble families whose exam questions you leaked bribed you, so how can you say you had nothing to do with it?"

As soon as these words were spoken, Xiao Rui, Yuwen Qiao, Wei Hongji and others turned their heads away.

At this moment, they wished they could sever all ties with Cui Wenhan, and no one spoke for him.

Cui Wenhan no longer wanted to live, and shouted, "I was the one who found them, using the leak of the exam questions as bait to extort money from them!"

Cui Yixuan said coldly: "This is not for you to decide."

General Xin Mao said, "Your Majesty, why not hand this man over to the Dali Temple? I will investigate this case thoroughly and get to the bottom of it."

Li Zhi glanced at him and said, "Don't worry. Cui Wenhan's affairs are more than just this one. Once we're done, I'll hand it over to your Dali Temple."

Xin Maojiang said quickly, "Yes."

Li Zhi ordered the Qianniu Guards to take Cui Wenhan aside, and then asked the ministers to return to their seats. He looked around at all the ministers and said slowly:
"You all saw it, right? This is the imperial examination of the Tang Dynasty. It's shocking!"

"Just now, Taiwei Zhangsun said that since the Yonghui period, there has never been a case of leaking imperial examination questions. So, I ask everyone to think about it. Is it possible that the questions have been leaked and we don't know about it?"

Liu Rengui stepped out and said, "Your Majesty is absolutely right. The imperial examination lacks supervision. If Your Majesty had not held the palace examination today, this leak of the exam questions would have gone unresolved!"

Li Zhi said, "So if we want to truly use the imperial examination system to select talents for the country, we must reform it. Otherwise, we will only get people like Wei Daiju and Yuwen De. What benefit will it bring to the country?"

Li Yifu said, "I second the proposal to reform the imperial examination system!"

"I second the proposal!"

"I second the proposal!"

……

In an instant, most of the officials came out to second the motion, and the rest were waiting for Zhangsun Wuji to express his opinion.

Zhang Sun Wuji was silent for a long time, then slowly said, "Your Majesty's determination to reform, I fully agree with you, but I wonder how Your Majesty intends to reform it."

Li Zhi said, "I have two ideas. First, we should make the palace examination a regular part of the imperial examination system. Second, we should cover the names of the candidates so that the examiners cannot be biased."

Changsun Wuji said, "I agree with the first point. This will prevent the chief examiner from leaking questions during the palace examination. As for the second point, shall we consider it in the long term?"

Han Ai said, "That's right. Since we have the palace examination, why do we need to cover the names of the candidates? This way, it will easily lead to impersonation, which is not good."

Li Zhi said, "The purpose of the palace examination is to confirm whether the successful candidates have real talent and knowledge. As for the candidates' names being covered, it is to prevent outstanding candidates from being overlooked."

Seeing that the officials from the aristocratic families were still dissatisfied, Li Zhi raised his hand and said, "Mr. Di, please take out Gao Youdao's test paper and Du Yijian's test paper and show them to the prime ministers."

Di Renjie bowed and said, "Yes." He took out two test papers from his sleeve and handed them to Liu Rengui first.

Liu Rengui looked at it for a while, a look of surprise on his face, and said, "Your Majesty, these two test papers are..."

Li Zhi said, "I have specially ordered two failed candidates to take the exam together with the Jinshi candidates. Take a look and see if they are the pearls left in the ocean."

(End of this chapter)