The emperor was on the verge of exploding and looked extremely unhappy.

But the eldest prince still bowed respectfully and then stood up.

"What's up?"

"Your Majesty, I brought four people with me, two candidates who passed the imperial examination and two candidates who failed the imperial examination. They were all killed on the same day, and I saved them. According to their stories, the two candidates were involved in cheating in the imperial examination."

The eldest prince bowed and explained the matter in just two simple words.

"Bring him in." The emperor's expression turned even uglier when he heard this.

Four people were brought in.

The emperor looked at the two people on crutches and found that they were the two people he had taken a closer look at yesterday.

The four of them knelt on the ground.

"I pay my respects to His Majesty."

The two men on crutches were shaking constantly. It was the first time for the two candidates to meet the emperor. Although they felt a little embarrassed, they were very frank.

"What's going on?" the emperor asked angrily.

"Liu Jingyi, you speak." The eldest prince kicked one of the crutches who was kneeling beside him.

"Your Majesty, I am guilty.

I am the son of a silk merchant in Luohe Prefecture. As my family has some property, my family donated money to help me get the opportunity to take the exam.

I have a small talent for studying, but when I came to Beijing, I realized that there were many talented people there.

Just then someone found me and can help me pass the imperial examination and become a Jinshi, but I need to pay a tribute of silver.

I paid the first installment of 10,000 taels of silver as promised, and I really passed the imperial examination. I only have to wait for the palace examination to pay the next 10,000 taels.

It's just that I was attacked while I was out for fun, and it was Your Highness who sent someone to save me."

The student named Liu Jingyi finished explaining his situation tremblingly.

"Who is looking for you?" the emperor asked coldly.

"I am a commoner..." Liu Jingyi hesitated and dared not speak.

"Speak." The emperor almost burst into tears.

"The other party is about to kill you, and you still refuse to obey the orders?" the eldest prince reminded.

"The other party only claimed that he was an aide to a certain prince, but I don't know which prince's mansion he was from." After Liu Jingyi finished speaking, he ran to the ground again, shaking even more violently.

"Your Majesty, I am Zhao Qingshan, a commoner who also went to Beijing to take the imperial examination, but failed.

We are from the same hometown and rented a small courtyard together.

We were poisoned not long ago, and it was His Royal Highness the Crown Prince who saved us.

Please ask the Duke of Zhenguo to come forward and detoxify me. Fortunately, I survived. "

One of the two frank men spoke without waiting for the emperor to ask.

After listening to what the two said, the emperor knew everything.

The two sons of merchants had failed the imperial examination.

Someone must have tampered with their test papers.

All examination papers must be copied before being marked.

The most likely thing is that something went wrong in this process.

Now that these two people have entered the palace for the palace examination, the truth has been exposed, which is why the fire in the examination room occurred.

The emperor was so angry that he took a paperweight and smashed it hard at the two people kneeling on the ground.

The aim was not quite right and only hit Liu Jingyi's shoulder, but he dared not move and just took it.

The emperor looked at the list of candidates for the palace examination and the answer sheets of the top ten on the imperial desk.

Liu Jingyi was the first in the joint examination and the last in the palace examination.

wrong.

Although I don’t know which son did it, I can’t escape from those two.

Are they that stupid?

When choosing people, I don't know if I can pick out outstanding ones, but I choose the one who can get the first place in the exam.

It is unlikely that my own son knows this. There must be something he doesn’t know.

At this time, several ministers entered the palace and waited outside.

"Your Majesty, several gentlemen have arrived." Eunuch Hai reported.

"Let them in."

The Minister and Vice Minister of Rites and Justice came in hurriedly.

As soon as the two people from the Ministry of Rites received the news that the Examination Paper Pavilion was burned down, they received an imperial decree from the Emperor to summon them.

The two people from the Ministry of Justice were still in the dark and had no idea what had happened.

Prime Minister Zhao carefully told him everything that had happened that day.

The Minister of Rites and the Vice Minister were so frightened that they knelt down and admitted their mistakes: "I have failed in my duty. Please punish me, Your Majesty."

The emperor had calmed down by now.

"Now we must first investigate the fraud. The Ministry of Justice and the Ministry of Rites will cooperate, and you will be given a deadline to investigate it. Tomorrow is the day when the palace examination results will be announced. I will wait for your results before making a decision." The emperor ordered immediately.

Now is an emergency, not the time to pursue responsibility.

The four adults came and went in a hurry.

Start investigating immediately.

The four people brought in by the eldest prince were also taken to the Ministry of Justice.

After everyone left, the eldest prince was the only one left in the imperial study.

"Jinqi, tell me, who did it?" the emperor asked.

It is impossible that the eldest prince saved only those four people, but he didn't say too much in front of outsiders.

"It was done by my first brother, and I think my third brother was also involved."

"Tell me in detail."

"Yes, Your Majesty. The Duke of Zhenguo and his cousin Xiangling went out of the city for a trip and rescued a man from the Tongjing River. His name was Miao Bingwen. According to him, he was pushed into the river. He was the last one in the imperial examination.

I looked at the test paper he had memorized and found that he answered very poorly, but he was still ranked last.

This matter caught my attention, so I asked someone to keep an eye on the two younger brothers. As expected, I discovered some clues.

Mr. Zhuang from the Emperor's brother's mansion sent people to kill the four people just now, and my son's people were just rescuing them. I learned from them what they said just now.

But I can only confirm that my younger brother wants to kill people to silence them, but I still can't figure out what's going on with Miao Bingwen. I can only think of my third younger brother."

When the emperor heard the name Miao Bingwen, he took another look at the list. Wasn’t he the third place in the palace examination?

"Come and see."

The eldest prince stepped forward, saw that the name was ranked third, and suddenly he understood.

"Your Majesty, I guess that your brother had someone swap the test papers of Liu Jingyi and the other two with Zhao Qingshan and the other two, and someone else swapped Miao Bingwen's test paper with Liu Jingyi. This resulted in Miao Bingwen falling to the last place." The eldest prince analyzed.

Even without telling anyone, my son could guess who it was.

The third prince must have known what the first prince had done.

The purpose is clear, which is to expose this matter.

If only two test papers with mediocre scores were changed, it is very likely that no one would know about it. But it is different for the top few, because everything will be exposed once the palace examination is held.

It was estimated that Miao Bangwen was killed by people sent by the Third Prince in order to expose him more thoroughly.

This is to press the prince into the mud, leaving him no chance of getting up.

He has one less competitor.

Opportunities are not wasted.

But before the truth was revealed, neither the emperor nor the eldest prince could come to a conclusion.

Cheating in the scientific examinations is being watched by many students, and once discovered, it is a serious crime.

An undercurrent surrounding scientific examination cheating has quietly begun.

The tribute scholars waiting in the capital city must not be informed yet.

But there is no wall that is completely airtight.

Some students still got wind of the news.

This is serious.

Inform each other.

Then they all gathered in the square outside the palace gate, requesting the emperor to conduct a thorough investigation and to obtain a notarization.

The emperor saw that the matter had become a big deal and that if he was not careful, it might cause a riot among the students.

We cannot force them to leave.

The emperor, accompanied by the eldest prince, stood on the palace wall in person and promised all the students that he would get to the bottom of the matter and give everyone a notarized evidence.

All students were required to go back and write a fu and submit it to the Ministry of Rites, which would then check the test papers based on each person's handwriting.

The students then dispersed.

The Ministry of Justice acted quickly.

All the invigilators and transcribers were controlled.

Those who managed the examination room were also arrested.

After a day and night of arrest and interrogation, a complete file was finally written and presented to the emperor early the next morning.