(Sorry, the Minister of War who looked at the paper before was Huo Ji, not Mao Kai. Mao was the Minister of Justice. Alas, Lord Xu has been using his power, and the monk has been feeling very uncomfortable these past two days, and has obviously made a lot more mistakes.)
There was a gloomy atmosphere in the Wenhua Palace.
The examiners sighed as they looked at the imperial edict that was mostly filled in.
"The fourth place in the imperial examination fell to the fifty-sixth place in the top three..."
"The eleventh place fell to the third class, number 323..."
"Oh, it just caused controversy." Huo Butang sighed.
"We can only tell others that this is the result of the emperor's review of the papers." Mao Butang smiled bitterly.
"That will make people laugh at us even more." Ma Butang was depressed.
"Yeah..." Mr. Wang felt ashamed.
He thought that the censors under him would definitely laugh their heads off, saying that this group of bigwigs couldn't even control the emperor, and were far worse than them, the youngsters.
"It's too late to say more. Fortunately, the top ten papers were all outstanding, and the top five were clearly a notch above the rest. They can withstand the criticism of the world."
After saying this, Mr. Zhang sighed and seemed unhappy.
But I thought to myself, perfect, now it’s time to go and stir up some fire with the teacher…
Hey, why does Bugu seem like a villain?
He was secretly feeling proud of himself when Feng Bao suddenly came into the Wenhua Hall, panting.
"Your Majesty has ordered that you do not fill in the imperial edict yet..."
"Oh?" The ministers couldn't help but cheer up, thinking, could it be that His Majesty realized that he should still be a good emperor?
But no matter how they questioned him, Eunuch Feng refused to tell them the reason.
So the bosses had no choice but to wait for the order while yawning.
The two old men, Ma Butang and Lei Butang, were sleeping soundly with their shoulders close to each other.
"Ah, the old couple have worked so hard." Li Shaoqing from the Dali Temple covered the two bosses with a blanket.
Fortunately, they didn't have to wait long, as Feng Bao, sweating profusely, ran in again.
"Your Majesty has ordered the examiner to present the palace examination paper of Zhao Shouzheng, a successful candidate."
"Zhao Shouzheng? I seem to have heard of this name..."
"Isn't it the one that says 'Business and Industry Are the Foundation'?" After all, it was the paper that Huo Ji had done himself, so the impression on him was deeper than that on others.
"Shocking..." Now all the big guys lost all sleepiness and stared blankly at the pile of examination papers.
What was the purpose of the palace examination in the second year of Longqing?
Whatever you fear will come true!
It was still Mr. Zhang who was the calmest. He rummaged through the pile of papers, found the one with Zhao Shouzheng's name on it, put it into his sleeve, and followed Feng Bao.
~~
On the way to the Qianqing Palace, Zhang Juzheng looked straight ahead and asked Feng Bao in a voice that only the two of them could hear: "Yongting, how did Your Majesty know this name?"
Feng Bao studied hard and was proficient in playing the piano, chess, calligraphy and painting. It was because of his outstanding calligraphy that he was chosen by Emperor Jiajing and sent to work in Prince Yu's Palace.
It was at that time that Xiao Feng met the stunning Xiao Zhang...
Prime Minister Zhang had always been a man of few opinions and always kept to himself, but he had a high opinion of Feng Bao, a man with a strong will despite his disability. He had close private dealings with Feng Bao and always addressed him by his courtesy name.
This made Eunuch Feng very grateful. He felt that since Mr. Zhang thought highly of him, he should treat him as his best friend for life.
Naturally, he told Zhang Juzheng everything he knew.
"Uncle, I'm also very confused." Feng Bao also looked ahead and answered in a low voice as he walked:
"But thinking back, the first time Your Majesty heard of this name was probably in Lingji Palace."
"Lingji Palace?" Zhang Juzheng asked with a shudder, "Did Your Majesty go there in person?"
"I didn't go there in person. But the Emperor got a thing called a telescope from his nephew. When he looked at Lingji Palace from Xihua Gate, it was as real as if it was right in front of him."
Feng Bao sighed and said, "Your Majesty wants to see how big a fuss Elder Xu has made..."
Zhang Juzheng was stunned when he heard this, and immediately thought of the old story of Zhao Wenhua's downfall. He couldn't help but sigh, as expected, when luck comes, heaven and earth are on your side, and when luck is gone, heroes are helpless.
Lord Xu had finally managed to organize a meeting, but it was spied on by the Emperor. It seemed like defeat was inevitable.
"As a result, the Emperor was surprised to see a young man giving a lecture on stage, so he asked the East Factory to send the record of his speech." Feng Bao said, and quickly added: "Of course, as usual, Shuda's words and deeds will not be recorded in the book."
"Thank you, Yongting." Zhang Juzheng nodded gratefully.
"Wan Sui seems to be quite interested in science, and he has read that boy's poetry collection before, so he wanted to invite Zhao Hao to give a lecture, but we persuaded him not to."
Feng Bao added: "After His Majesty saw his three generations of pilgrims, he stopped mentioning this matter."
"Oh." Zhang Juzheng nodded slowly.
Naturally, he also investigated Zhao Hao and knew that his grandfather Zhao Liben had a secret but well-known feud with Gao Xinzheng.
"The second time was not long after the results of the imperial examination were announced. The eldest princess entered the palace and had a secret conversation with the emperor after dismissing her attendants."
"I put my ear to the partition, and could only faintly hear the words 'uphold the truth' and His Majesty's angry curses." Feng Bao lowered his voice and said:
"As far as I can remember, this is the first time His Majesty has been so angry. Not even as angry as the time when Master Gao was driven away."
"Really?" Zhang Juzheng became more and more confused as he listened, thinking, what does this have to do with anything? It's as if the princess and Zhao Shouzheng are having an affair.
Haha, that's hilarious. It would be more plausible to say that Bu Gu and Empress Li were having an affair...
When they saw the Qianqing Palace, the two of them stopped talking tacitly. Feng Bao moved forward slightly, and Zhang Juzheng slowed down, and they entered the palace one after the other.
~~
The setting sun shines through the glass window, illuminating the warm room with a golden glow.
Zhang Juzheng handed the test paper to Longqing with both hands.
"Master Zhang, please take a seat."
Long Qing happily invited his dear Master Zhang to sit down. Without bothering to talk, he first looked at the eye-catching ranking on the paper.
"The 22nd place in the second class?" Long Qing was surprised.
"Yes, this ranking is the result of everyone's discussion. In my humble opinion, it is actually lower, but you all think that the views in this article are too aggressive, so you suppressed it a bit."
"Well, that's good. I thought he designated the top three as the latter."
Long Qing laughed and said, "It turns out that Ning... was not bragging. He just performed poorly in the imperial examination."
After the emperor finished speaking, he felt a pain in his heart, and said with a gloomy face: "Let me see what nonsense this evil spirit has said."
Then he unfolded the test paper, and was stunned by Zhao Shouzheng's handwriting at first glance.
"This handwriting shows a lot of skill... that's also a karmic obstacle!"
"Well, Karma is quite good at talking to people. No wonder I think he is a good person..."
Zhang Juzheng looked at the beautiful hibiscus blue carpet with his eyes on his nose and his nose on his heart. He thought to himself, Your Majesty has such a complicated mentality of love and hate.
It makes people imagine...
He really hoped that the emperor would reveal some more shocking information, but as Longqing watched, he gradually became fascinated.
Forget it, let’s not gossip about someone as aloof as Bu Gu.
Before I knew it, it was getting dark.
Feng Bao came in quietly to light the lamp, but was caught off guard by the sudden leap of Emperor Longqing, who frightened him so much that he almost dropped the candle in his hand.
"Haha, this is a good idea! This is a brilliant idea! I didn't expect that this Karma is such a genius!"
Then the emperor laughed excitedly and said:
"It's settled. The top prize goes to this bastard!"
ps. First update, please give me monthly votes and recommendation votes~~