Chapter 416: Pen holder case (final)

The night is getting darker and darker, and it is already the second day of the second day. The streets filled with fog are deserted. I can occasionally see someone rushing to home. Since the Chang'an Fangmen is not closed at night, there have been pedestrians returning at night on the street. But the streets tonight were a little abnormal, and there was a hint of tension hidden in the fog. It seemed that something was about to happen?

A large group of men in black appeared in front of Guangdefang near the west city, with a total of 100 people. They were agile and clean and neat, and rushed straight to the mansion of Li Kai, the prince of Anyang, not far from the gate of the wing. Less than a hundred steps away from the royal palace, the men in black immediately dispersed everywhere and blocked all the exits of the royal palace. First, more than twenty people rushed up the steps under the leadership of an official and knocked heavily on the door, "Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!" The sound was urgent and fierce, which shocked the quiet night.

"Who is it? It's so late." An extremely impatient voice came from the door.

"Open the door quickly. We are from the Supervision Office and are ordered to come and investigate!"

The side door creaked a crack, revealing a frightened face, and stuttered, "Are you from the Supervision Office?"

The head official held a silver medal in his hand and shook it in front of him, "At the order of the Censorate, please ask the Prince of Anyang to cooperate with the investigation." After saying that, he waved his hand and dozens of black shadows rushed in.

The concierge was so scared that his face looked like a mortal, and ran to the inner house to report the news.

The special service in the inspection room did not break in directly, but stood in the courtyard and waited quietly. After a moment, a burst of rapid footsteps came from the direction of the inner house. An elderly man was surrounded by more than a dozen family members. He was Li Kai, the prince of Anyang County, and an old Xianwang who never cared about state affairs. The famous inspection room in Chang'an actually broke into his mansion at night. Li Kai was frightened and looked like a dirt. He quickly bowed and asked, "What's the matter with me who are visiting late at night?"

"Is Li Fangzhi the prince's son?" The inspector's official asked coldly.

"It's my fifth son." Li Kai began to feel nervous. His son is the legitimate son, but he has never studied well since he was a child. He mingled with a group of unworthy children of high-ranking officials all day long. He relied on the door to help him get a little bit from the seventh rank, hoping that he could change his mind. But today the inspection office came to him. Could it be that he caused some great disaster? Li Kai remembered that a hundred clans were slaughtered half a year ago, and his legs were a little scared.

"He... is here!" Li Kai suddenly turned around and shouted at his family, "Why don't you go and find Lao Wu!"

"Master, the fifth young master drank too much today, so I'm afraid it's hard to wake up."

A family member who was ignorant of the current affairs replied, but as soon as he finished speaking, Li Kai gave him a big mouth and gritted his teeth and said, "Go quickly, even if his legs are broken, I will lift it."

Several family members ran away, and Li Kai asked tremblingly again: "What kind of disaster did the dog cause?"

Seeing that he was quite cooperative, the officials in the Supervision Office comforted him and said, "I don't know what the matter is, but the superiors did not order us to arrest our family, so please rest assured that as long as the prince does not commit a crime, the prince will not involve the prince."

Li Kai's heart fell slightly. He really didn't know what his son had done. Soon, several family members slapped Li Fangzhi out. Before he could sober up, he was still in a state of confusion. Seeing his son coming out, Li Kai rushed up and slapped him hard, and cursed: "Little beast, why are you causing me again? Even the inspection room is here."

Li Fangzhi was sobered up with a scorching slap in the face. When he saw the yard full of dark men, he was shocked. He immediately understood in his heart that this must be the case of cheating in the exam. He was so scared that his legs were cramped and he shouted in a hurry: "This has nothing to do with me, I only had to spend two hundred taels of gold..."

But the Supervision Office no longer gave him a chance to tell the truth. The head official waved his hand and immediately came up to tie him up. The official immediately bowed and said, "There is an order from above. In order to prevent the news from leaking, please restrain the family, and no one is allowed to go out."

Li Kai nodded in panic, "Please rest assured, I will do whatever I want."

"Okay! I'm disturbing the prince." The leading official waved his hand, "Let's go!"

A hundred black men turned around and withdrew from the palace with Li Fangzhi, and they walked away in an instant. Li Kai stood in a daze in the yard, as if he had a dream.

Before dawn, Li Han, the Minister of Works, boarded the carriage and prepared to go to the Daming Palace. From today on, he will change it to the government office. This is something he has been looking forward to. The government office means that he is the right prime minister. He likes the feeling of being powerful. Li Han is over 50 years old this year and is also a member of the Li clan. He spent his life in plain and simple things, and all official positions were promoted step by step. But he was very lucky that Li Mian, the highest official in the clan, was convicted and died. After the new emperor ascended the throne, he found him to be the representative of the royal family and promoted him to the Minister of Works. He then moved to the seven prime ministers, which made him feel like he was a step to reach the sky. But he also knew that he was not confident enough and there were many people who jealous of him, so he tried to act as low-key and not show his edge.

But Li Han was stunned as soon as he left the door. He saw Du Mei, the Censor, standing not far away with his hands, with a strange smile on his face. Li Han suddenly felt uneasy in his heart. When the carriage stopped, he got out of the car and bowed and said, "Why is Du Zhongcheng standing in front of my mansion? Is there anything I have to see you?"

Du Mei smiled faintly, pulled out a piece of paper from her sleeve, and said with a high voice: "Transfer to Your Majesty's order, Li Han, the Minister of Works, will take three days off."

Li Han was stunned. Today, he was in charge of the government, but the emperor asked him to take a leave. What does this mean? "Du Zhongcheng, what happened?" Li Han asked with a heart-warming heart.

Du Mei calmly handed him the handwriting, "Please confirm the handwriting first."

Li Han took it and looked at it. It was indeed the emperor's handwritten handwritten, and there was his private seal behind it. Strictly speaking, Zhang Huan's handwritten handwritten handwritten without the seal of the Secretariat. Li Han could not execute it and continue to go to court and hand over the ruling affairs pen with Yuan Zai. But he knew that since the emperor issued this handwritten handwritten, something big must have happened. He did not dare to be careless, and he bowed deeply to Du Mei and said begging: "Please tell me what happened?"

Seeing that there was no one around, Du Mei stepped forward and whispered to him: "Someone exposed a serious fraud case in this official examination, and the son Li Xuan was also involved in the case."

"Xuan'er!" Li Han was stunned, "How is this possible?"

"Someone gave it out, and Your Majesty dared not make a conclusion easily, so I asked Li Xuan to ask Li Xuan in person. If the situation is true, I hope Li will destroy his relatives for justice."

"This" Li Han hesitated for a moment, and he nodded slowly and said, "Please tell Your Majesty that if Li Xuan violates the law, I will never tolerate it."

Suddenly, Li Han suddenly remembered something, and his face changed drastically, "Oh no!"

Seeing that his face was pale, Du Mei couldn't help but ask anxiously: "What's wrong?"

"Li Xuan did not return overnight."

Just as dawn, a large number of troops entered the imperial city to block the Ministry of Rites. From the Minister of Rites, all officials of the Ministry of Rites were invited to the Censorate to discuss. An explosive news spread throughout the court and the public in an instant. A major fraud case occurred in the official examination, involving two prime ministers. Various rumors came from all directions. Some said that Wei Qing, the Minister of Rites, committed suicide for fear of crime, some said that Lu Qi, the Minister of Rites, submitted his resignation, and some said that Li Han, the Minister of Works, was involved in the case and had been secretly detained. In the chaos of the court, everyone felt that a storm of administration was coming.

Zichen Pavilion, Zhang Huanzheng, who had not been sleeping all night, looked at a pen in his hand with a gloomy face. This is the evidence of this fraud case. A specially modified pen can be unscrewed, and there is a hollow pen holder inside. The answer to the exam is hidden in this pen holder. A total of 102 such pens were found, which means that at least one hundred people participated in this fraud.

Li Fangzhi had already told him that he had paid 200 taels of gold to pass this vocational examination. The gold was handed over to Li Han's son Li Xuan. The three heads of the Ministry of Rites who were responsible for copying the answers also told him that they each accepted bribes of Li Xuan's 300 taels of gold.

The focus now is Li Xuan. He is the middleman of bribery and accepting bribes, and he has all the information, but he just disappeared, and his disappearance means that all the clues are cut off.

"Your Majesty, I have ordered all the special service members under the Supervision Office to be dispatched, including the restaurants, sects, brothels and other places where Li Xuanchang went. I have sent people to investigate. As long as he is still in Chang'an, he will definitely find it." Du Mei was speaking, and he and Yan Jiudu were reporting the latest progress of the case to the emperor, and Han Huan and Hu Yong, the Minister of the Ministry of Personnel, participated in the audition.

Zhang Huan put down the pen in his hand and walked a few steps behind his back. He suddenly turned around and asked, "Have you searched Li Han's mansion completely?"

"Report to Your Majesty, you have searched thoroughly, and you even found a secret passage hidden in the rockery of Li Han's mansion, but there was no trace of Li Xuan. I also plan to search Li Xuan's mother's home."

Zhang Huan shook his head, "This case has not erupted last night, so he cannot hide deliberately. Generally, there are only two possibilities for his disappearance, either to be silenced or to hide in his own home. If he doesn't have one at home, I think the possibility of being silenced is very high."

Even though he said this, Zhang Huan was still unwilling to give up. He ordered Du Mei to say: "Add to send additional personnel to search the whole city. If not, use the army. If you want to see people in your life, you will see corpses even if you die."

"I obey the order!" Du Mei agreed and said hurriedly and left.

Zhang Huan asked Yan Jiudu again, "Is there any new progress in the Ministry of Rites?"

Yan Jiudu sighed silently, "Your Majesty, Wei Qing is also involved in the case. He has admitted that his family had collected one thousand taels of gold from Li Xuan without knowing it, but he denied participating in the cheating."

"What about the rest of the Ministry of Rites?" Zhang Huan asked with anger gradually rising in his heart.

"Report to Your Majesty, except for Wei Qing and the three chiefs, no one else admits it is related to this case."

"How could only the minister and the chief involved in such a big case? They refused to admit it. It seems that they think I am too easy to bully."

Zhang Huan could no longer control the anger in his heart. He decisively ordered Han Huan and Hu Yong: "The Ministry of Rites, from the Minister of Justice to the Chief, was dismissed from office and investigated. The case was transferred to Dali Temple and I was tortured and confessed. I don't believe that I can't pry them open!"

Han Huan and Hu Yong looked at each other, and both knelt down at the same time. Han Huan advised: "Your Majesty, those who are corrupt and abused the law are hateful, but it is impossible for the entire Ministry of Rites to be involved in the case, one is like a country. If the Ministry of Rites is involved in the case, wouldn't it mean that there is no innocent person in the court? Your Majesty, the task of this official examination is heavy. I saw that most of the officials of the Ministry of Rites are diligent and hardworking. How could Your Majesty defeat them without asking for anything? This would hurt the hearts of the officials! Your Majesty."

Finally, Han Huan burst into tears and kowtowed continuously. Hu Yong also advised: "Does Your Majesty still remember the Chen Ping case in Longyou? Chen Ping withdrew the refugee rations, but Your Majesty did not expand the attack, but just beheaded Chen Ping and showed the public. It was because he was His Majesty's confidant and killed him, but he returned a clear sky in Longyou. How rational and concise was Your Majesty back then? But now, Your Majesty wants to destroy one for a case? Have you ever thought that if this implicated disaster is destroyed, where will the officialdom of the Tang Dynasty go?"

At this time, Yan Jiudu also knelt down, "Your Majesty, Prime Minister Han and Minister Hu are both right. There are many hidden information here. For example, Wei Qing was involved in the case. He did know that his family had accepted bribes after the exam. At most, he could only be considered informed but not reported. Moreover, he took the initiative to confess. If he did not explain, there was no evidence to accuse him. Your Majesty should indeed be treated with a discernment and could not be beaten to death with one stick."

The hard persuasion of the three finally calmed down Zhang Huan. The pain of losing his son, and the water and rice had not entered for a day and a night, and he had not yet had a sleep. He had already felt exhausted. He sat down powerlessly and waved his hand to the three people, saying, "This case is under the supervision of the Prime Minister Han, the Ministry of Justice, the Ministry of Personnel, the Dali Temple, and the Censorate. The investigation begins with the leak of the test questions. Every detail that happened the afternoon before the exam will be repeated. There are those who usually have poor reputation for the evaluation, but this time they have high scores, and their papers must be reviewed. In short, this case must be found out!"

At noon, the Cao River in Dongcheng City was crowded with people watching the fun. In the river, three yamen runners from Wannian County were diving into the water to search, and dozens of yamen runners were exploring the water with long bamboo poles on the boat. In the morning, someone who lived by the river ran to the county yamen to report. Last night, he saw someone throwing a heavy sack into the river, with a very suspicious sign.

"Doway! Dodge!" A group of soldiers ran over and pushed away the people watching the fun. Behind the soldiers, a carriage was followed by a carriage. The carriage stopped by the river. Du Mei got off the carriage. As soon as he got the news, he rushed over.

The magistrate Liu of Wannian County, who was organizing fishing for food by the river, hurriedly stepped forward to greet him, "Liu Mingliang, the magistrate of Wannian County, met Du Zhongcheng."

Du Mei waved her hand, "Mr. Liu doesn't have to be too polite. Things in the river can be salvaged."

As soon as he finished speaking, the people watching the fun on the shore suddenly exclaimed, and a yamen runner shouted loudly: "County magistrate, found it!"

Du Mei and County Magistrate Liu hurried to the riverside, and saw three yamen runners swimming towards the riverside with a black sack. The yamen runners dragged the sacks up together.

"Open it!" Du Mei said in a deep voice.

A yamen runner opened the sack with a knife, and stood up in fear. The sack was actually a man's naked body. County Magistrate Liu suddenly recognized it, "Isn't this the Dali Temple Sizhi Li Xuan?"

Du Mei's heart sank suddenly. Li Xuan was indeed silenced. He was the most critical witness. His silence means that the clues of the fraud case were completely cut off.

‘It’s so fast!’ Du Mei suddenly had an intuition that the mastermind behind the imperial examination case might not be that simple.

Du Mei squatted down and carefully looked at Li Xuan's injuries. His vest was stabbed five times and his throat was cut. It can be imagined that he was attacked from behind, strangled his neck and killed him. The murderer was very cunning. In order not to leave any clues, there was no trace of him on his body, and a huge rock was tied to his legs. If it weren't for being discovered when he was throwing the body, he would have surfaced.

"Since Li Sizhi was thrown away near Dongshi City, I guess he might have been killed in Xishi City. The murderer attacked the west and deliberately confused us." Liu County Magistrate Liu has rich experience, so he immediately inferred the intention of the murderer. There is a question of jurisdiction here. If he is killed in Xishi City, it will be under the jurisdiction of Chang'an County. He Wannian County cannot investigate. Of course, it is more important to clear his responsibilities.

Du Mei nodded. County Magistrate Liu made a point. Li Xuan was a famous liar. Many people in the restaurant knew him. Although he knew that the possibility was not high, he could only be treated as a living horse. He immediately stood up and ordered two subordinates and said, "You can go to the West City to find out every household and see if Li Xuan had appeared last night."

The two subordinates agreed and rode their horses. Du Mei bowed to the Liu County Magistrate and said, "I'll ask the Liu County Magistrate for the investigation in the East City."

County Magistrate Liu smiled and said that he had no choice but to blame for this matter.

No clues were found from Li Xuan's body, and Du Mei returned to the prison located in Sinong Temple. Currently, three officials from the Ministry of Rites, including Li Fangzhi and Wei Qing, were imprisoned in the prison. None of the candidates involved in the cheating were willing to surrender. This is the caution of the person behind the scenes. Everyone contacted Li Xuan on a single line, and all the gold was sent by Li Xuan alone, and they didn't know each other.

But Du Mei still thought of a breakthrough, that is, the officials of the Ministry of Rites. Although the three officials of the Ministry of Rites who have been confessed are all involved in the case alone, it is impossible for more than 100 officials of the Ministry of Rites to be like this. Even if it is a single line of contact, one of them must know who the latter is, otherwise they will not be able to act together. Therefore, as long as you pry a person's mouth open, you can follow the clues.

Du Mei returned from the East City and hurried into the imperial city. As soon as he entered the Suzaku Gate, he saw a man riding a horse and shouting to him from afar: "Du Zhongcheng."

"Stop!" Du Mei shouted and opened the curtain of the car. The person who came was an official from the Censorate. He looked a little frightened and ran to Du Mei's carriage and panted: "Yan Zhongcheng asked Du Zhongcheng to go to the Censorate immediately. Something happened?"

"What happened?" Du Mei felt a little wrong.

"Han Fu, the doctor of the Ministry of Rites, committed suicide by taking poison."

Du Mei was stunned for a moment. Who is the latter? She is always one step faster than him. Why is she so powerful!

In the Censorate, the body of Han Fu, the doctor of the Ministry of Rites, was placed on a wooden board, and his face was black. More than a hundred Ministry of Rites officials who explained the problems at the Censorate were gathered in the lobby. They looked at Han Fu's body silently, and no one spoke.

"You all saw that Han Langzhong died, but I want to tell you that he did not commit suicide. There could not be poison on him. He was poisoned by someone in his meal. We cannot find out who poisoned him for a while, but this is not important. What is important is that Han Fu died today, and everyone may die tomorrow."

Yan Jiudu spoke very slowly. He tried his best to let the people present understand what he meant. He glanced at everyone and said slowly: "The reason why the emperor has not sent you to Dali Temple for trial is actually to give you a chance. The emperor has said that if someone confessed before dark, the emperor will regard it as surrender and will deal with it as appropriate, or be demoted or dismissed, but he will never be imprisoned, exiled, or died. But if he missed this opportunity, once it was found out, it would not be as simple as demotion and dismissal. At the very least, he would be exiled to Anxi to join the army. Everyone understands it. I don't need to say more about the powerful relationship in this."

"How is it? Is anyone willing to confess?" Yan Jiudu suddenly raised his voice.

The lobby was still silent. Suddenly, someone started to cry. Everyone turned their heads together and saw Wang Min, the head and guest officer, slumping on the ground. He tried his best to grab his hair, his face full of regret, "I deserve to die, I'm confused!"

"I, I confess too!" A chief raised his hand.

"I was confused for a while, too!"

With the suicide of Han Fu, the ward of the Ministry of Rites, the people involved in the Ministry of Rites finally began to explain one after another. The Ministry of Rites, with more than 100 people, a total of twelve people involved in the case, including the Minister of Rites Wei Qing, two doctors, two servants and seven officials, received a total of 3,000 taels of gold. The general coordinator was Han Fu, the ward of the Ministry of Rites who had committed suicide.

According to the confession of the person involved in the case of the Ministry of Rites, all ninety-nine cheaters participated in the cheating. The Emperor of the Tang Dynasty issued a severe sanction on the same day. The twelve people involved in the case of the Ministry of Rites, Wei Qing, knew that the minister, was not responsible, but Nian took the initiative to confess and advocated that his family members return the bribes, which could be handled lightly, and he was demoted to the county magistrate of Xunyang County, Jiangzhou; although Han Fu and Li Xuan died, they were still removed from their official positions, and their sons were not allowed to enter the officialdom for life; the other ten people involved in the case, Nian was confessed by themselves, and they would not be held accountable, and they were all demoted to the people; and Nian was dismissed from their posts and all were exiled to Anxi to guard the border.

The earthquake in the officialdom was not over. The next day, Zhang Huan issued a second decree: Li Han, the Minister of Works, did not teach his son strictly, and dismissed the qualification of Pingzhangshi in the Secretariat and demoted him to the Right Prime Minister of the Secretariat; Lu Qi, the Minister of Rites, was the chief examiner of the official position, and was unshirkable for major fraud incidents. He dismissed the qualification of Pingzhangshi in the Secretariat and demoted him to the governor of Fuzhou. In addition, he was promoted to the governor of Hongzhou, Chu Xingshui in the Governor of the Ministry of Works, and was promoted to the Secretary of the Secretariat and Pingzhangshi in the Secretariat and the Secretary of the Secretariat and Pingzhangshi in the Secretariat and the Secretary of the Secretariat and Pingzhangshi in the Secretariat. The two were able to squeeze in to the position.

On September 20, the Ministry of Personnel officially issued the first layoff order. Except for 240 people who were qualified for re-examination, all more than 600 people who failed the examination were dismissed for the people. The court will issue one-time dismissal compensation. In addition, the Beijing middle-aged officials will be cut by half to local governments. The major layoffs continued until April of the following year before ending. The Ministry of Personnel issued a total of four layoff orders, laying down more than 3,000 officials at all levels.
Chapter completed!