The next morning.
Above the main hall.
Leng Yu sat on the dragon throne, looking at the ministers standing in the hall with a sharp look in his eyes.
"I have a lot of feelings during my visit to Yilan County! The country of Daning is not as harmonious and peaceful as I imagined, and my ministers are not as honest and upright as I imagined."
At this point, he glanced at the ministers and saw two officials nervously wiping the sweat from their faces.
"Master Shi from the Ministry of Personnel, it's not hot in this hall, why are you sweating so much?"
When his name was called, Lord Shi immediately stood up and knelt on the ground, trembling.
"Your Majesty, I have caught a cold, so I feel a little weak..."
"Oh? Is Mr. Shi weak physically or mentally?"
"Your Majesty, I am very weak."
"snort!"
The emperor suddenly shouted,
"I heard that Lord Shi has a close relationship with one of the Queen's sisters?"
Hearing this, Lord Shi seemed to have anticipated that the matter had been exposed, and he immediately kowtowed and begged for mercy.
"Your Majesty, please spare my life. Your Majesty, please spare my life. I know my crime. I know my crime."
"Know your guilt? What guilt do you know?"
"Old minister..."
Mr. Shi didn't know how to speak for a moment, Leng Yu snorted again,
"Since you can't speak for yourself, I'll say it for you. You've abused your power to accept bribes and buy and sell official positions. You've disregarded the laws of Daning State and treated the safety of the people as a joke. And you still dare to beg me to forgive you? You're really wishful thinking."
After saying this, he shouted loudly,
"Come here, take off Mr. Shi's official hat, strip him of his official position, and take him to the Heavenly Prison to await interrogation by the Ministry of Justice."
As soon as these words were spoken, Lord Shi collapsed to the ground. Several guards came forward without saying a word and dragged him away.
The court suddenly became extremely quiet, and no one dared to breathe.
Leng Yu glanced at everyone again and spoke seriously.
"From today on, I will overhaul the government. I will not tolerate any acts of corruption or corruption. Everyone, please return home and conduct yourselves. In particular, you must manage your subordinates well. Don't wait until something goes wrong and you claim you didn't know."
The people in the hall bowed and clasped their fists.
"Your Highness understands."
This time, Leng Yu was determined to eradicate the bad habits that had accumulated in the Daning Kingdom for a long time.
…
He set the date for the palace examination on June 18th. The candidates who came to Beijing to take the exam had already arrived in the capital in early June, and the inns and taverns in the capital were doing a booming business.
Two days before the exam, Leng Yu and Luo Lan dressed in casual clothes and came to the streets of the capital.
They wanted to secretly observe the quality of this group of candidates.
"Husband, let's go to the teahouse. There are many people there, and there will definitely be a lot of things we can find out."
"good……"
Leng Yu nodded and took her to a teahouse called Qingyuyuan.
Probably because the people who came here were all scholars with a high overall quality, Qingyu Garden was very quiet at this time. Apart from the storyteller's vivid speech, there was no other noise.
The storyteller was telling a story about the previous dynasty. Leng Yu took Luo Lan to find an empty seat and sit down. Ahong and Ayu stood beside them. The four of them all looked towards the storyteller.
After a while, the storyteller finished his story and waved his hands to the crowd.
"Thank you for your patience in listening. Please make yourselves at ease."
After leaving these words, the storyteller hurried away with his suitcase, probably going to another teahouse.
Recently, many scholars have come to the capital to take the imperial examinations, and the storyteller's business has also been good.
Without the storyteller's voice, these people began to gather in groups of three or two and whisper something.
Sitting at the table next to them were two scholars in rather ragged clothing. One of them said to the other:
"How much silver did you bring from home?"
Another scholar shook his head.
"My mother sold the family's sheep and borrowed some from relatives to get me ten taels of silver. My mother was afraid that I would miss the palace examination, so she asked me to come to the capital in early May. After a month's journey, I finally arrived here in early June. But who could have imagined that the palace examination would be scheduled for mid-to-late June? If my mother hadn't brought me some dry steamed buns, I would have no money to even eat now. Sigh!"
"Who says it's not true? Look at how we're dressed. I'm not much better than you. I think it's better for us to go back as soon as possible. There's no hope."
"That won't do. I've finally come here. If I go back without taking the exam, my mother will be furious. Besides, I've studied for ten years and passed the provincial and metropolitan examinations. The only thing missing is this palace examination. As long as I have breath left, I won't go back."
"You think I want to go back, but even if I don't, the little money we squeeze out of our teeth will not be appreciated by others. It's useless for us to take the exam. Besides, I heard that two princes are also going to participate in this palace examination. Tell me, what hope do we have?"
"Anyway, I've already done the eighteen bows, so this last one won't make a difference. Let's wait a few more days! Alas! How can we, who have studied for more than ten years, not be able to compare with a few taels of silver? The world is really going downhill, the world is going downhill."
Leng Yu heard the conversation between the two scholars nearby. He raised his hand and called out to the waiter:
"Bring me a fresh pot of tea."
The waiter responded and came to their table with a pot of tea, took the copper coins, and left.
Leng Yu nodded to Luo Lan, then took the pot of tea and sat down at the table where the two scholars were.
This chapter is not finished yet, please click on the next page to continue reading the exciting content!
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
