Chapter 1799: Fracture

The examination room was quiet again. Prefect Shi frowned, trying not to panic and carefully recalling everything he had done. "Sir, I am waiting for your evidence."

Not long after, Ding Jue came back again, this time he brought two people with him, a man and a woman. The man was dressed like a beggar in rags, while the woman was the owner of a tavern in the city.

When Prefect Shi saw the two of them, his pupils constricted.

Chang Zhi said, "You are careful and cautious. I was worried and even suspected that I had miscalculated. However, no matter how careful you are, some traces cannot be erased. For example, you only drink the wine in this tavern, but this beggar is interesting. Every time you buy wine from this tavern, this beggar will appear in front of the tavern to beg."

Prefect Shi calmed himself down and said, "These two people want to convict me. I don't know them."

Chang Zhi took the account book from Ding Jue and said, "Oh, it's a pity that they confessed everything. This is the account book they handed over. It really opened my eyes."

This person has done a lot of things, including accepting bribes to change cases, taking the imperial examination in autumn, and so on. It is difficult to list them all.

Prefect Shi's head was buzzing. He was so careful, yet Lord Zhou still discovered the pattern. He stared at the account book, then looked at the two people who were kneeling with their heads on the ground. A mouthful of blood rushed up his throat, his cheeks turned pale, and he fell backwards.

Chang Zhi signaled the guards to help, as he still had to review the case. Prefect Shi couldn't just go like this, as it would be too easy for him to die like this.

After a while, the soldiers who were in control of the city came to report one after another. Chang Zhi confirmed that Chuanzhou City had been controlled. Then he stood up and said to the candidates: "The autumn examination will continue. This year's autumn examination questions are all set by me alone."

It means the test questions have been changed. Fortunately, he didn't catch anyone buying the test questions, so it's useless even if they bought them.

The deputy examiner opened his eyes wide, he didn't know when Zhou Changzhi asked the question, and now he was a little dazed, because Zhou Changzhi was clearly under their surveillance!

Chang Zhi didn't explain. Could he say that he had given half of the questions before he revealed his identity? Later, he would dictate a question from time to time, and Ding Jue would write it down.

The examinees in the examination room waited for Lord Zhou and his party to leave. Even though they were afraid of the guarding officers and soldiers, they still couldn't help whispering to their neighbors. Today's event was too shocking to them. It looked like the entire Chuanzhou officialdom was completely destroyed!

Chang Zhi left the examination room and took a carriage to the government office. He said to Deputy General Guan, "Since we have taken control of the city, we can confiscate the property."

Deputy General Guan asked, "Are you confiscating the property now?"

"Well, I need the account books they hid."

Deputy General Guan obeyed and said, "Yes."

Changzhi and his entourage returned to the prefectural government. They were so leisurely before, but now they were so busy that they wished they could be split in half.

Prefect Shi lived in the back house of the government office. The female family members and others had been controlled. Chang Zhi did not go to see them, but signaled Ding Jue to take people to dig out the murder records and check the money transactions in the account book one by one. These were all crimes of Prefect Shi.

At first Changzhi didn't expect such a big commotion, but when the evidence was delivered to him one by one, he felt a chill on his back. He had to stop making trouble by himself. It was a perfect network of officials protecting each other. It was easy for him to break a hole but difficult to catch them all.

Finally he mustered up the courage. The evidence was solid. As long as he used swift, fierce and accurate force to control the city, even if there were fish that slipped through the net, they would only be small fish. After reviewing the situation in his mind again, Chang Zhi's brows relaxed slightly.

Ding Jue came back quickly, "Sir, please take a rest first."

Chang Zhi waved his hands, "There are still many things waiting for me. I want to sort out everything I can during the first round of the Autumn Examination."

Ding Jue looked at the soldiers carrying the boxes and felt a little tired.

Chang Zhi stood up and patted Ding Jue on the shoulder, "Go and meet Qian Jiang, he is here to help."

Changzhi did not trust the officials in Chuanzhou, but he thought the soldiers were trustworthy, but not many of them could read. So Changzhi went to the Qian family.

Qian Jiang had been waiting outside for a long time, and Qian's father had also come. Both father and son looked pale. They knew that Lord Zhou would do something big, but they never expected such a big commotion. Now the streets were empty, and a gust of wind made them feel creepy.

The first round of the autumn examination ended, and the candidates were still very excited, not because the questions were easy, but because they wanted to know what would happen next after Lord Zhou took control of the city.

Chang Zhi watched the candidates leave one after another in silence. When he left Beijing, he wanted to come up with some unusual questions, but unfortunately there were too many surveys and he really didn't have the energy to make things difficult for the test questions, so he could only make the questions more difficult.

Ding Jue sensed the master's mood, "Sir."

Chang Zhi said dimly, "I'm not willing to accept this."

Ding Jue: "Hmm?"

"I really don't have the energy. I want to ask a good question."

Ding Jue thought it was something, and consoled him, "Sir, please give the same answer in the future."

Chang-Chi, “You don’t understand.”

Don't think about leaving the capital this time. The emperor won't let him out, and his father will also restrain him. There will be too much noise this time, so he really needs to stay away from the crowd and behave himself.

Changzhi got on the carriage and said, "Let's go back to the government office."

There are not enough rooms in the prison now. The former prisoners have been transferred to other places for custody. The backyard of the government office is also filled with boxes. There are five large boxes of account books and receipts alone, which is frightening to see.

Ding Jue said, "Sir, the An family is secretly lending money at high interest, and there are receipts that have not been found."

Chang Zhi knew the hatred in Ding Jue's heart. Now that Ding Jue knew he had been framed, he felt very sad. When Ding Jue saw the complete list, he vomited blood, which scared him. He sent people to watch over Ding Jue, but he didn't expect that Ding Jue, who had been unconscious all night, would get up the next day to continue his work. He knew that hatred was supporting Ding Jue.

"A cunning rabbit has three burrows. I have already sent an expedited letter back to the capital. By now, Lord An from the Ministry of Industry should have been detained."

Ding Jue asked, "Do you mean that the An family boss took away some of the bills?"

"Um."

Just as Changzhi had guessed, after the first round of the Autumn Examination, Lord An from the Ministry of Works was arrested, all the male members of his family were imprisoned, and the An family's house was guarded by soldiers.

In the palace, Zhou Shuren held the message sent back by his son, his heart pounding, "He, he is very brave."

"Yeah, it's big enough."

The emperor was satisfied. That was great. Even the old fox Zhou Shuren was no longer calm. Tsk tsk, the most daring person in the Zhou family was Zhou Changzhi.

Zhou Shuren thought that he would definitely discipline Changzhi according to the family rules when he returned. Controlling the city looked simple, but it would be a mess if he was not careful. "I have no way of educating my son."

The emperor waved his hand and said, "The children you taught are all excellent."

It's just that Zhou Changzhi is too tough, and anyone who gets hit by a stick will break their bones.

Zhou Shuren was very proud and said, "My fourth son is still good at studying and cultivating his character."

The emperor was silent for a moment, "Well, when he comes back, let him specialize in editing books."

It’s better to keep this kind of surprise force under control!

The king and his ministers agreed that Changzhi would come back to revise the book.

Zhou Shuren had a headache when he left the palace. Now those who were well-informed probably knew the situation in Chuanzhou, and those who disliked him would definitely make trouble for him.

Why was Lord An imprisoned? The news spread quickly and the charges were clear. Lord An from the capital was imprisoned, let alone his relatives in Sichuan Province.

The next morning, at the court session, Zhou Shuren felt the gazes when he got off the carriage, and he didn't know whether he should step forward or not!

(End of this chapter)