Chapter 376 What? Pei Xuanyun dares!
Yinzhe sped on the way to the imperial study in the central palace.
I had just passed by Qinghui Palace and saw Xiaoliu looking relaxed, so I went to greet him.
I originally wanted to find out something, but now I think forget it and report this to His Majesty first.
He rushed to the imperial study, and after being informed, he walked in and saw the empress Qin Minghuang who was reviewing memorials.
"I heard that they've already targeted the big fish hiding in the deepest part?"
Yinzhe bowed and saluted,
"Your Majesty, that's right. The other party couldn't hold back and revealed their true colors first.
All signs point to this person being Shen Yuanzhang, the owner of Qingjianzhai Bookstore."
The information previously passed back to the palace did not record the names and identities in detail, precisely because they were afraid that the news would be leaked and alert the enemy.
After all, no one can be sure to what extent the aristocratic families have infiltrated the palace.
Therefore, Yinzhe spent several days carefully verifying the information from multiple sources and setting up surveillance.
Only after confirming that everything was correct did he return to the palace to report to the emperor in person.
Upon hearing this, Qin Minghuang paused slightly with his pen in his hand, raised his eyes, and his expression was obviously relaxed, revealing a hint of genuine concern and expectation.
Being able to capture the leader of the aristocratic family who was buried in Fengjing is a great achievement that has not been seen in many years.
If we can capture him alive and interrogate him thoroughly, we will surely be able to uncover the truth, and who knows how many evil spirits lurking in the government and the country will be implicated.
Even if the hidden dangers cannot be completely eradicated, if their core intelligence network is destroyed, it will be impossible for the aristocratic families to rebuild such a large-scale spy network in Fengjing without years of effort.
This will undoubtedly buy the court valuable time to breathe and make plans.
Qin Minghuang put down his red brush and leaned forward slightly, showing great interest:
"Tell me in detail, how did you find this person?"
Yinzhe immediately told the whole process of the investigation.
The key lies in Li Jingyao, the chief examiner of the Zhongchendao County Examination.
The reason why he was chosen as the chief examiner was not only because his qualifications and reputation were enough to convince the public, but also because there was a hidden chess piece that had been buried by the Xuanji Guard for many years lurking in his mansion.
In this regard, the Xuanji Guards and the aristocratic family spies are evenly matched, and their methods are exactly the same.
After so many years of open and covert fighting, each side has long been aware of each other's usual tricks and infiltration methods.
In fact, the Xuanji Guards had already thoroughly investigated the minor incidents that Li Jingyao's son had committed when he was serving as a county magistrate, and the evidence was solid.
He was just a small seventh-rank county magistrate who was sent out to other places. It was not worth it for the Xuanji Guard to make such a fuss.
On the contrary, he took this handle and carefully made a "hook".
Just waiting for the day when a bigger fish will take the bait.
As a result, this wait lasted for several years.
There are many idle chess pieces like this buried in the Xuanji Guard that may never be used, or even never be used.
The aristocratic families can certainly lay down very deep infiltration, but how can the Xuanji Guards, which have the full support of His Majesty, be inferior in the Fengjing area?
Sure enough, just before the provincial examination, this chess piece that had been silent for many years finally got its reward.
Someone passed a message to Li Jingyao through extremely secret channels, asking him to tamper with the final results of the provincial examination:
A special paper that is between the acceptable and acceptable levels was judged as passed.
This requirement itself does not sound excessive, and is even completely within the examiner's authority.
In the imperial examination, the two most difficult things to decide are:
One is the selection of the top scorer, and the other is the decision of whether to accept or not for the last few marginal students.
Selecting the best candidates from those papers that can be accepted or not has been the norm in all previous imperial examinations.
Yinzhe personally took action and tracked down the messenger who delivered the message.
However, after tracking him down, they found that he had obviously been abandoned long ago.
There was no upstream connection between him and the clues came to an abrupt end.
Things seemed to have reached a deadlock again, and all the mysteries fell on the four words "between ambiguity".
The order itself was quite odd.
How could the other party predict the future and be sure that the candidate's paper would fall into the delicate range of "between ambiguity"?
There are only two possibilities for hidden analysis:
Either this candidate's writing ability is really limited, and the level is neither high nor low, so it is very likely that he is stuck in this position;
Or this is a double insurance. This candidate is extremely strong, but for fear that he may perform poorly, it can also be ensured that it is within the feasible range.
No matter how you speculate, there is an indescribable weirdness.
There are tens of thousands of students taking the provincial examinations. Who can accurately predict the final grade of a particular paper?
After repeated consideration, Yinzhe decided to change his thinking and start screening with the women who passed the initial test.
The focus of attention is naturally on two types of people.
One is that they are extremely gifted and talented, and even if they make mistakes occasionally, they are almost certain to pass the exam;
The second type is women whose level is in the middle, just stuck in the "ambiguous" area on the edge of the admission line.
After checking, I actually found the problem!
"Wen family?" Qin Minghuang's eyes narrowed slightly when she heard this familiar surname. "But is it the Wen family in the harem?"
"Your Majesty, that's right."
Yinzhe continued to report.
In order to avoid alerting the enemy, this investigation was carried out personally by the elite members of the Xuanji Guard, whose cultivation level was at least above the fourth level.
The Wen family looked ordinary on the surface and did not attract much attention at first, not to mention that the eldest son of the Wen family was a member of His Majesty's harem.
However, upon closer inspection, some unusual clues were discovered.
It turned out that the servant in charge of purchasing at the Wen Mansion was quietly replaced before the provincial examination.
The gate of the mansion was closed all day long, and it was abnormally quiet.
After the Wen family fell into decline, Wen Tingwan from the second branch finally seized the opportunity to gain fame and fortune, so it was reasonable for the whole family to be cautious.
But the strange thing is that although the mansion is cautious, the new purchasing servant always reveals an expression of worry and fear that is difficult to conceal every time he goes out.
His eyes were evasive and his steps were hurried.
There was another time when he deliberately delayed for a long time while shopping and wandered around the East Market. His restless look clearly showed that he was in an extreme inner struggle.
This anomaly immediately aroused the high alert of the Xuanji Guards who were secretly monitoring.
Instead of rushing into the mansion or arresting the man, they immediately reported the situation.
Yinzhe personally took over and followed up, and after many twists and turns, he finally figured out the key and the whole story.
"Bang!"
When Qin Minghuang heard the key point, he slammed the dragon table with disbelief written all over his face:
"What! They got the Pei Mansion's prediction? And they spent 100,000 taels of silver?"
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