Chapter 244 The Emperor's Art of Controlling His Ministers
The palace awaited hundreds of students standing in the palace square, including Xiao Yu and the Cheng brothers, as well as many sons of officials.
Many people were initially too afraid to come, but it was Grand Tutor Pan who encouraged them and gave them a chance to meet the Emperor. The Emperor was also a student of Grand Tutor Pan, and some of these people were also his students. This garnered the Emperor goodwill and dispelled everyone's fear.
They responded to Grand Tutor Pan's call with overwhelming enthusiasm, joining the ranks in a vast and orderly procession, displaying a thriving and prosperous spirit.
The Emperor, accompanied by his officials, arrived at the steps outside the Golden Palace. Looking at their youthful and inexperienced faces, Grand Tutor Pan led everyone in bowing, saying, "This humble subject pays respects to Your Majesty. Long live the Emperor!"
The Emperor glanced at Jiang Jinyan, implying that he, as a student this year, should return to the ranks.
Jiang Jinyan then took off his official hat and stood in the line.
The Emperor smiled broadly and spoke in a gentle tone, “No need for formalities. You are all fine sons of my Great Zhou. I welcome you. It is my blessing to have you. The Great Zhou Dynasty has hope only because of you. Today, I invited Grand Tutor Pan to invite you to the palace not to test your knowledge. Please do not be nervous and feel free to express your opinions.”
The students were stunned. They all said that the emperor was majestic and sacred, but they did not expect him to be so kind. "Thank you, Your Majesty."
The Emperor's move to win over the hearts of the people is truly brilliant. This is the art of a monarch to control his ministers. A large portion of these people will be officials holding important positions. The Emperor's kindness will earn him a group of die-hard fans who will be full of respect and worship for him.
Even an emperor must know how to recognize and utilize people's strengths, and ensure that everyone's talents are fully utilized.
To be an emperor, one doesn't have to go to the battlefield or charge into battle, but one must be able to win the hearts of the people so that they become his eyes, ears, nose, and even his hands and feet.
These are all things the Crown Prince must learn, and also the principles of being an emperor that the Emperor must teach him.
Xie Shang thought he would only get excited when facing a vast army, but he didn't expect that he would be just as excited when facing these students. His father was right, these people are the hope of the Great Zhou, young and full of energy.
At this moment, Xie Shang seemed to understand why his father had scolded him for "putting the cart before the horse" ten years ago. He had made a contribution and wanted to show off, to gain his father's approval, and even to boast about his achievement of killing the enemy leader. However, his father poured cold water on him, scolded him severely, and even called him worthless.
This bucket of cold water extinguished his arrogance, and he worked even harder, wanting his father to change his opinion of him, to like him, and to value him. It turned out that his father wanted to remind him that he was young and impetuous and too reckless.
After becoming the Prefect of the Capital, he wanted to prove his abilities to his father and gain his approval. In fact, his father may have always known about his efforts, which is why he appointed him as the Crown Prince.
Aside from his excessive cruelty and heartlessness towards his mother, he always thought his father was a wise emperor.
At this moment, Ao Xue, Ye Ying, and others also brought Wang Qing and Wang Yuanwai to the palace.
The palace was crowded with people. When Wang Qing saw a person in bright yellow robes standing on the steps, exuding a majestic and cold aura, he was so frightened that he wet his pants and hid behind his father.
When everyone saw that the person in front of them looked exactly like Wang Qing in the hall, they all seemed to understand that the Wang Qing who entered the examination hall was not the real Wang Qing. Even if such a person were allowed to cheat, he might not be able to finish all three exam questions.
When Xie Shang saw Ao Xue and Ye Ying arrive with their entourage, she realized that their ability to freely enter and exit the palace gates must have been due to the tokens given to them by Jiang Fenghua. This meant that Jiang Fenghua had sent them to capture the real Wang Qing. How did she know that the Wang Qing inside the palace was an imposter?
This has truly cleared Grand Tutor Jiang's name completely.
Before the emperor even began his interrogation, Wang Yuanwai was so terrified that he collapsed to the ground and confessed everything: "Half a year ago, the Thousand-Faced Gentleman approached my family, saying he had an opportunity to help my son become an official, as long as I could afford the money. I was also obsessed with getting my son an official position, it was just a matter of spending some money to bribe him. I saw that he did indeed have a photographic memory and a profound face-changing technique, so I agreed."
The Thousand-Faced Gentleman is quite famous in the martial arts world and can be considered an extraordinary person. He not only has the ability to remember everything he sees, but he is also skilled in ventriloquism. He can imitate all kinds of sounds, whether they are the voices of men and women, the sounds of birds and beasts, or even the sounds of wind and water. He can do it all with ease.
No matter how severely he is tortured or killed, he will not reveal a single word about betraying the buyer.
The Thousand-Faced Gentleman wears a human skin mask that resembles Wang Qing. Even if the mask is torn off, it may not be his true appearance, which is why he is called the Thousand-Faced Gentleman.
After listening to Wang Yuanwai's account, the Emperor said in a deep voice, "Shang Hong, bring the man here!"
Commander Shang had already bound him tightly, awaiting the Emperor's judgment.
The Thousand-Faced Gentleman still had a face exactly like Wang Qing's. The emperor stared at him and Wang Qing, scrutinizing them. "Indeed, they are exactly the same. Is there such a profound face-changing technique in the world? What did you originally look like? Show me what you look like in front of me."
The man with a thousand faces was bound hand and foot. "Your Majesty, please untie me first, then I can change my face for Your Majesty."
The Imperial Guards immediately stepped forward, brandishing their broadswords. Commander Shang said, "These martial arts practitioners all possess extraordinary abilities and skills. Do not trust them; beware of traps."
The Emperor, who valued his life above all else, stepped back and asked again, "Since you took the Wang family's money to take the exam for Wang Qing, why did you frame Grand Tutor Jiang? What does this matter have to do with Grand Tutor Jiang?"
The Thousand-Faced Gentleman had already prepared his explanation: "It's not that I'm trying to frame Grand Tutor Jiang. It's that the Wang family has always resented Grand Tutor Jiang for refusing to take Wang Qing as his student. Grand Tutor Jiang looks down on the Wang family as merchants. If things are exposed, we'll say that we bought the exam questions from Grand Tutor Jiang. Even the story of Grand Tutor Jiang going to the Rainbow Pavilion to buy things and exchanging exam questions with me was pre-arranged. I just don't know when Grand Tutor Jiang changed the items. The Wang family's money was also prepared to be sent to the Jiang residence long ago."
Xie Shang asked, "Where did you get your test questions? Didn't you accuse Grand Tutor Jiang of stealing them from the Imperial Study?"
"We started following Grand Tutor Jiang six months ago. We know exactly when he enters and leaves the palace. When he enters the palace, he naturally goes to see the Emperor, and he should be in the Imperial Study!" The Thousand-Faced Gentleman's words made perfect sense. He added, "We didn't steal the exam questions. I knew them myself. If you don't believe me, I can recite them right here and now."
So he actually memorized a set of exam questions haphazardly, and his essay was quite eloquent. It made people think that he shouldn't have taken the exam for someone else for money, but should have taken it himself. Maybe he could have become a top scholar or a third-place scholar, and then become an official with power and money.
Xie Shang found it unbelievable after hearing this, considering it a rare talent. He then asked Master Wang, "Is what he said true? How did you two meet?"
Master Wang thought for a moment, "He came to the Wang family on his own, and then somehow he was confused and believed what he said."
The Thousand-Faced Gentleman said, "I met them when they were registering for the imperial examination. I saw that they really wanted to pass the exam and were willing to pay for a teacher, so I took the initiative to approach Master Wang for the money. I promised that I would definitely help Wang Qing pass the exam, and the Wang family gave me 100,000 taels of silver as a reward."
It was then that I learned that Master Wang had long harbored a grudge against Grand Tutor Jiang. That's why he thought that if he got caught, he could say he bought the exam questions from Grand Tutor Jiang. This way, he could not only get revenge on Grand Tutor Jiang but also escape punishment. I'd heard that students who cheated wouldn't be severely punished unless the offense was minor or they confessed honestly.
"Truly, you've planned every step with meticulous care!" the Emperor said in a deep voice. "Shang Hong."
"Your humble servant is here."
"Drag them all down and behead them. I don't even want to know what they look like. Daring to disrupt the court and manipulate the imperial examinations, I will never tolerate such people," the Emperor said coldly.
A hint of fear flashed in the eyes of the Thousand-Faced Gentleman, but he still looked fearless in the face of death.
Master Wang and Wang Qing hurriedly begged for mercy, "Your Majesty, spare our lives! We will never dare to do it again."
Wang Qing said, "We didn't want to frame Grand Tutor Jiang; he's the one who made us do it."
Commander Shang immediately ordered them to be escorted away.
At this moment, the Emperor looked in Su Dehai's direction. Ever since Chief Eunuch Cao saw him meeting with the palace eunuchs, the eunuchs had been secretly imprisoned. Now, regardless of the outcome of this case, the Su family was on the Emperor's blacklist.
The Emperor didn't take action against the Su family for embezzling military funds. He could turn a blind eye to minor embezzlement as long as it wasn't excessive. However, the Su family's planting of spies in the palace and even colluding with eunuchs were suspected of treason and were unforgivable crimes.
At this point, everyone knew the truth. Master Wang held a grudge against Grand Tutor Jiang for not accepting Wang Qing as a student back then, so he asked Grand Tutor Jiang to take the blame. How vicious! He didn't even look in the mirror at his own son's character. Even if he were taught by Grand Tutor Pan, there would be no way to make him pass the exam.
“What is false can never become true, and what is true can never become false,” said Grand Tutor Pan. “The net of Heaven is vast and its meshes are wide, yet nothing escapes it. Even if Wang Qing finds someone to take the exam for him, if he truly enters the officialdom, he will be discovered sooner or later.”
Even after clearing up the students' doubts, the emperor still wanted to personally supervise their examinations in order to motivate them.
What just happened has made the students even more respectful of the emperor.
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