Li Banghua got on a sedan chair and rushed to the examination room surrounded by hundreds of soldiers and students.

The students did not notice that dozens of carriages were following them.

There were three or four soldiers in full armor standing next to each carriage.

When I was still one street away from the examination hall, someone blocked my way.

"Sir, it's His Royal Highness the Crown Prince." Zhang Boxing, the Vice Minister of the Ministry of War, walked to Li Banghua's sedan chair and said in a low voice.

Li Banghua did not dare to delay and got off the sedan chair and came in front of Zhu Cilang.

"Are you planning to go to the examination hall, Lord?" Zhu Cilang asked with a worried look on his face.

"Your Highness, yes."

"Are you sure you can settle this matter?" Zhu Cilang asked again.

Li Banghua glanced at Zhu Cilang, then deliberately glanced at Ni Yuanlu behind him with some dissatisfaction, and whispered: "Your Highness's heart is here, and the body should not be here."

"What do you mean, Lord?"

Li Banghua sighed and said, "Your Highness, have you forgotten that there is a war going on at the front line?"

There was a loud bang in Zhu Cilang’s mind!

Yes, there is a war on the front line.

He had totally forgotten about it.

Fighting a war is a very troublesome thing.

The soldiers' salaries, weapons, meals, clothes, and various pensions all needed to be checked by the court and distributed in a timely manner.

Otherwise, the army will become unstable and prone to defeat.

He had no cabinet to help him and had to do everything himself.

Countless official documents are waiting for his review.

"You guys keep an eye on this. I have to go back to review the documents." Zhu Cilang turned around and was about to leave.

"Your Highness cannot leave." Li Banghua said with a serious face.

"Why?"

"I need your Highness's soldiers to maintain order and protect the students' safety."

"this..."

Looking at Li Banghua who was speaking so confidently, Zhu Cilang was in a dilemma.

Let's go... He is also responsible for the deaths at the scene.

He couldn't leave because there were urgent documents in the palace waiting for his review.

He thought for a moment and said, "How about I leave you some soldiers to maintain order?"

"That's fine!" Li Banghua's mouth corners rose slightly uncontrollably.

His goal was achieved.

Yes, from the very beginning he wanted to borrow the prince's military power!

The candidates' unrest was just the surface phenomenon; the truth behind it was that the noble officials in Nanjing were causing trouble.

They did not dare to cause trouble openly, so they could only encourage the candidates to boycott the exam.

It is easy to deal with the candidates, but difficult to deal with the nobles and officials.

However, things were different after gaining military power.

With military power, you can arrest and kill people.

Ni Yuanlu looked at Li Banghua who had succeeded in his plan and secretly admired him.

This old fox actually used this method to obtain the prince's military power.

It’s high, really high.

He did not point it out because he was also one of the participants.

In desperation, Zhu Cilang gave Li Banghua three thousand soldiers and horses, and after completing the handover procedures, he hurried back to the imperial city.

After gaining military power, Li Banghua seemed like a different person.

My eyesight is no longer blurry, my back is no longer hunched, and my legs are no longer lame.

He ordered the Eastern Depot, the Embroidered Uniform Guard and the Imperial City Guards to continue maintaining order, while he led his men towards the examination hall.

Soon, the group arrived outside the examination room.

This place has already been crowded with people.

The petitioning students, the onlookers, the officials who bowed their heads and the alert soldiers made the way to the examination hall difficult.

"Get out of the way, everyone! Lord Li, the Chief Minister and Imperial Envoy of the Cabinet, has arrived!" The soldier leading the way in front pushed aside the crowd and squeezed in.

The crowd split into two and automatically made way for a path.

Li Banghua's sedan passed through the crowd and arrived at the entrance of the examination room.

As soon as he got off the sedan chair, the candidate Lü Gong standing opposite him took the lead in shouting: "The tablet of Confucius is here, why don't you kneel down, Li Banghua?"

“Kneel down!”

“Kneel down!”

Thousands of candidates roared in unison.

The sound waves surged in the air like a tide, carrying the anger of these scholars towards Li Banghua.

The noise was so loud that it was frightening.

Tens of thousands of eyes in the examination room fell on Li Banghua like ants, crawling around.

If it were an ordinary person, he would have collapsed long ago.

but...

Li Banghua is not an ordinary person.

He was the chief minister and minister of war of the Ming Dynasty, who was neither afraid of death nor greedy for life.

At the same time, he was also the imperial commissioner in charge of disaster relief and the collection of unpaid taxes.

Li Banghua knew he couldn't kneel.

He could kneel in front of the tablet, but he could not kneel in front of the group of candidates.

Because he is an imperial envoy.

The meaning of imperial envoy is to inspect on behalf of the emperor.

If he kneeled in front of the examinee, it would be equivalent to the emperor kneeling.

Lose the emperor's dignity.

At this time, dignity is much more important than life.

Li Banghua stared at Lu Gong and asked coldly, "Tell me your name."

"Student Lu Gong is a candidate for this autumn examination."

"What are you holding in your hand?" Li Banghua continued to ask.

"The throne of the great sage Confucius!" Lu Gong answered confidently.

His confidence comes from the tablet in his hand.

Confucius is the teacher of all scholars. Any scholar must kneel when seeing the tablet.

If one does not kneel, other scholars will exclude this person from the team of scholars.

Not to mention that Li Banghua is the Prime Minister of the Cabinet, even if he is a member of the royal family, he has to kneel when he sees the tablet.

Li Banghua stared at the smug Lü Gong and asked leisurely, "Why are you holding up the tablet of Confucius?"

"I hold up the tablet of Confucius because..." Lu Gong stopped speaking halfway.

etc!

He suddenly felt something was wrong. After thinking about it carefully, he realized that he was almost diverted from the topic by Li Banghua's words.

He glared at Li Banghua: "Don't talk nonsense. I just want to ask you why you didn't kneel after seeing the tablet of Confucius?"

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