Yu Zizhen did not stop Lu Dingchang from leaving. She was only the prince of Zhenbei and did not work in the Ministry of War, so she had no way to force Lu Dingchang if he did not show her the transfer order.
Fortunately, Yu Zizhen didn't really come to cause trouble for Lu Dingchang. She just wanted to buy some time for her subordinates so that they could take the students away smoothly.
Now that she had accomplished what she wanted to do, Yu Zizhen decided to quit while she was ahead and not to provoke the Lu family into a corner.
It is worth mentioning that Chen Hushan, who had been paying attention to Yu Zizhen, also brought people over urgently after receiving the news. However, he did not go to help Yu Zizhen stop Lu Dingchang. Instead, he took his people directly to those students, intending to intervene and take advantage of the situation.
He saw the opportunity quickly this time. He claimed to be helping to rescue people, but in fact, he was clearly planning to snatch people from Yu Zizhen. However, it took time for his people to return to the mansion to report the news, for him to gather his men and come out of the mansion, and then rush to the scene of the incident with his subordinates.
Unlike Yu Zizhen, because he has the system as his go-to informant, he saves a lot of time on passing messages back and forth and urgently mobilizing manpower in advance.
This also led to the situation that when Chen Hushan finally arrived at the scene with his group of subordinates, the students whom he regarded as targets had cleverly avoided them.
Looking at the empty street in front of him and listening to the random speculations of the people around him, Chen Hushan was so depressed that he just wanted to roar to the sky.
Once again, he failed to catch up!
Chen Hushan turned his horse around unwillingly and was about to lead his men back home, but he accidentally caught a glimpse of Yu Zizhen riding on a horse out of the corner of his eye.
He immediately changed his mind, "Zizhen!"
Yu Zizhen looked towards him and asked, "Why are you here?"
Chen Hushan snorted, "Shouldn't I be the one asking you this?"
Yu Zizhen glanced at him and said, "I'm here to save people."
Chen Hushan raised his eyebrows. He didn't expect Yu Zizhen to admit it so readily.
Yu Zizhen sighed, "We've all studied hard for years to get to where we are today. It would be such a shame if we died like this."
Chen Hushan frowned.
He came because he had been keeping an eye on the Zhenbei Palace, so he knew that Yu Zizhen was planning to interfere with the students' protest march.
Yu Zizhen wanted to show favor to these scholars, obviously in order to win people's hearts. For the sake of his own family, Chen Hushan naturally could not let Yu Zizhen take the lead.
But he didn't know that Lu Dingchang had led his troops into Beijing. He hadn't seen Yu Zizhen here just now, and thought that he had already retired. Now, after hearing what Yu Zizhen said, Chen Hushan suddenly realized that Yu Zizhen might not have left, but had just arrived here.
He asked Yu Zizhen, "What do you mean by death? Even if they make trouble, the government won't kill them, right?"
After all, they really suffered unfair treatment.
Yu Zizhen glanced at him sideways, "Do you know who I just met? Lu Dingchang."
Chen Hushan frowned. "So, 'The Leopard Guards are coming soon' isn't just some fabricated rumor?"
The Leopard Guard was affiliated with the Front Army Commandery, one of the Five Military Commanderies, and was a close confidant of the Front Army Commandery's Grand Commander Lu Dingchang. So when Chen Hushan heard Lu Dingchang's name, he immediately thought of the discussions he had just heard.
Yu Zizhen sighed, "He brought a large group of soldiers and charged right here with great momentum. If I hadn't managed to stop them, these students who caused trouble today would have been captured by him and taken to the military camp if not dead."
At that time, he would arbitrarily label these students as spies. Under severe punishment, these students would either be tortured into confessing or be killed directly. There would be no evidence to prove the crime, and with the Lu family mediating for him, the most he would receive would be a reprimand, a one-year salary fine, and a demotion.
To Lu Dingchang, such mild punishments as reprimand and salary deduction were nothing. As for the level he was demoted to, with the Lu family supporting him, he would surely be promoted back in no time.
However, the future of those students will be ruined, and even their lives will be lost in the turmoil caused by the leak of the exam questions.
Yu Zizhen admitted that she was indeed doing a favor intentionally, but at the same time, her love for talent was also genuine.
Regardless of whether these students will remember her kindness in the end, she still wants to give them justice within her ability.
Relying on the sufficient intelligence he had already obtained, Yu Zizhen had already started collecting evidence when others knew nothing about the matter.
Ever since Lu Dingchang's brother-in-law sold the first test paper, Yu Zizhen began collecting evidence.
She searched the homes of some of the cheaters and found papers with test questions and answers. She also got their regular academic performance and the articles and poems they had written.
One's personal style can be seen in his or her writings and poems, while his or her usual academic performance can indirectly indicate that those who cheat simply do not have the academic level to pass the exam.
In addition, she also found out where Lu Dingchang's brother-in-law kept large sums of money and numerous treasures of unknown origin.
This time, she controlled her little hands that wanted to take away all the money, and reluctantly left all the money where it was as evidence to nail Lu Dingchang's brother-in-law.
In addition, she also compiled a list of witnesses and sorted out the complete route of Lu Dingchang's brother-in-law selling the test questions.
Make dozens of copies of these things, and then send them to the Ministry of Personnel, the Ministry of Justice, the Dali Temple, the Censorate, etc. without anyone noticing.
Once the complete chain of evidence that was everywhere was brought out, it would be impossible for the Lu family to cover up the matter even if they wanted to.
Those officials who were at odds with them quickly controlled all the witnesses, and then reported the matter to the palace immediately, requesting the emperor to uphold justice for this class of students.
The Lu family members had to hold their noses and clean up the mess for Lu Dingchang. The fact that he had brought troops into the city without authorization was still exposed. However, because he obtained the transfer order from the Ministry of War in time, which was not in compliance with the procedures, he could still be saved.
As for Lu Dingchang's greedy brother-in-law, the evidence of his leaking the exam questions was irrefutable, so there was nothing he could gain, and the Lu family could only let him suffer the consequences.
Wei Xuanzheng, the left assistant minister of the Ministry of War, who had already been sentenced to death for the first time because of Lu Dingchang's unauthorized entry of troops into the city, was an old man in his sixties who seldom went to the government office and rarely attended the morning court. However, he attended the court this time.
He insisted on punishing Lu Dingchang according to the law, but nearly half of the court officials were Lu's supporters. After removing those who pretended to be ignorant and protected themselves, the people who supported Wei Shilang's opinion were only less than 30% of the officials headed by Yang Zhengde and Fan Ting.
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
