Daming: At the start of the showdown, Lao Zhu was stunned

Chapter 1094 Fraud Case

Scholars quarrel, blood is shed...

Song Zhong and the Jinyi captain looked at each other.

Fuleyuan was a brothel, and it was common for scholars to fight for favors in a brothel. In the early years of the dispute between the old and new schools, scholars and students argued with each other over academic views almost every day, and the people were not surprised.

However, today, the dispute between the old and new schools of thought has long come to an end. With the dual opportunities of the change of dynasties and the strong support of the court, the old school of thought has been swept into the garbage dump by the Ming Dynasty, and the new school of thought has become the prominent school of thought. Such disputes have long disappeared.

However, even at that time, there were rarely any bloodshed... Scholars were jealous of each other and had disputes, which were mostly literary fights. Both sides drew lines and exchanged sharp words, even if they were sprayed with spit in each other's faces, fighting was still a disgrace to the civilized world.

And today, there was blood?
Song Zhong was able to rise to the position of second in command in the Jinyiwei and was about to be promoted to the first in command, so he was naturally sensitive to news. He subconsciously guessed that this must be related to the imperial examination that His Majesty had mentioned.

"I will go with you." He got off the carriage and climbed onto a horse that one of his men had given up. "Your Majesty is also paying attention to this matter. We must not let it get out of hand!"

The soldier from the Five Cities Army nodded, and the two of them rode towards Fuleyuan together.

As soon as he arrived at the bank of Qinhuai River, Song Zhong saw the gathered crowd. The troops from the Five Cities Army who had gone ahead earlier seemed to have arrived, and their voices of dispersing the crowd could be heard from inside.

"Who is causing trouble under the emperor's feet?"

"Go away, go away, all of you...what are you looking at over there?"

"Anyone who dares to do this again will be arrested and imprisoned!"

Song Zhong held up the Jinyiwei badge, pushed through the crowd and squeezed into the inner side of the crowd.

With the encouragement of the Five Cities Army, the situation was now under control. When Song Zhong squeezed into the crowd, he saw that in Fule Courtyard, two groups of scholars were being separated by the soldiers of the Five Cities Army. One of the scholars, who was wearing a simple long gown, had a bleeding head.

"What's going on!" Song Zhong strode in.

"Ah, Lord Song..." A captain from the Five Cities Army was having a headache, but when he saw Song Zhong walk in, he felt as if he had been pardoned. He bowed and acted as if he was the boss.

The Jinyiwei of the Hongwu Dynasty had a fierce reputation. Song Zhong was dressed in the uniform of a Jinyiwei commander, which was still very intimidating. Seeing him come out, the two groups of scholars who were cursing with red faces fell silent for a moment. Then, next to the scholar with a broken face, a scholar stepped out and bowed, saying:

"Your Excellency has come at the right time. I just need you to make the decision."

"These southerners are lawless and have no moral principles. How dare they commit crimes in this place where the emperor is standing!"

"Please bring these criminals to justice as a warning to others!"

As soon as he said this, the students on the opposite side immediately went wild. "Turning black into white" and "shameless" were all kinds of insults. The scholar who came forward was not to be outdone, "Brother Ziqian's injury hasn't healed yet, are you guys going to deny it?" Then there was another verbal battle, with endless swear words. Although there were no dirty words, the momentum was overwhelming.

Song Zhong felt overwhelmed after hearing this. At this time, people from the Five Cities Military Department came with a doctor, and with them came a city inspector.

"You are all my saint's disciples, why are you causing trouble here? Oh, Master Song..."

The imperial censor who was patrolling the city knew Song Zhong and bowed to him.

"Jiang Yushi." Song Zhong returned the greeting. He had served in the Jinyiwei for many years and was familiar with all the officials in the city.

After being scolded by the patrolling imperial censor, the scholars finally quieted down. The doctor hurriedly examined the injured scholar. After a while, he breathed a sigh of relief and said to the patrolling imperial censor: "My lords, this scholar is fine, just a few minor skin injuries."

"I have bandaged him properly... He just needs to rest for a while and he will be fine."

As soon as these words came out, Song Zhong, Censor Jiang, and the thousand households of the Five City Military Department all breathed a sigh of relief. It was good that nothing happened. If a scholar died because of a riot under the feet of the emperor, it would be a big event that would be exposed to the world.

Since it's just a minor injury, there will be no problem in the future. We just need to make a big thing small and a small thing nothing.

"What exactly is the cause of the discord?" Song Zhong was the highest official here, so he spoke first again. "Don't talk too much. Wherever I point to, send someone to speak. You say..." He looked at the party that was just accused.

"......Sir." A scholar was pushed forward, looking embarrassed. Censor Jiang beside Song Zhong uttered a soft "ah".

"Does Lord Jiang know this person?"

"I do know him. This man is Chen An, the top scholar of this year's imperial examination. He just boasted about his position on the Imperial Street a few days ago." said Censor Jiang.

Since he was the top scholar of this year's exam, Song Zhong slowed down his tone and reminded him, "Chen Zhuangyuan, why did you beat this scholar? Please tell me."

"If it's a misunderstanding, it's better to solve it on the spot. Otherwise, if it gets to the Jingzhao Yin, it will be embarrassing for you..."

Chen An showed a bitter expression, cupped his hands and said, "Thank you, Lord Song, for reminding me. Chen An thanks you."

"This is all a misunderstanding. Today, I came to Fuleyuan with Brother Guo and others to drink. I don't know why these brothers came uninvited. They spoke rudely."

"We were angry and argued with him. He spoke rudely, and Brother Guo was so angry that he accidentally pushed him... pushed him."

"That brother was not standing steadily and fell on the corner of the table, so he got some scratches on his skin... This was not our intention."

Song Zhong narrowed his eyes slightly, and over there, the scholars opposite started to make noise again.

"What a rude statement! You are filled with righteous indignation! Do you think you are heroes?"

"You are so shameless to avoid the important issue!"

"You are worthy of being the top scholar if you can confuse right and wrong like this? Pah..."

There was another round of scolding. Song Zhong and Censor Jiang maintained the situation by shouting. They also asked this group of scholars to send a representative. After several narrations, they finally understood the whole story.

It turned out that a group of scholars were having a drink here to congratulate Chen An, the top scholar. As the saying goes, "When the spring breeze blows, the horses gallop, and one day you can see all the flowers in Chang'an", in this month, it was a romantic thing for scholars to visit prostitutes. Chen An was very proud of his youth and had won the top prize. When he was congratulating Chen An, he naturally asked a few courtesans to accompany him.

It was daytime, business was slow, and most of the prostitutes were idle. Hearing that the number one scholar had come to the courtyard, the prostitutes in Fule Courtyard wanted to see the number one scholar's appearance. Therefore, all the famous prostitutes in the courtyard went to Chen An's room, and it was so lively that it seemed as if they had reserved the whole place.

This brothel was doing a booming business at night, as all the prostitutes went to see the number one scholar and join in the fun, leaving few people here to entertain customers. If it were in the past, it would not be a problem.

Today, a group of scholars came to Fuleyuan with their friends and specifically asked for a few famous courtesans to accompany them.

The courtesans were all at Chen An's place and could not come. Fu Le Yuan's mother had no choice but to apologize to the group of scholars: "Gentlemen, it's really unfortunate..."

"Today, the number one scholar happened to come to our courtyard with a few Jinshi candidates. The courtesans you wanted have all been chosen by them..."

"Number One Scholar?" When the scholars heard this title, they all fell silent. Someone asked first, "Which number one scholar?"

"Oh, who else could it be?" The mother thought that the title of the top scholar scared these people, so she waved her handkerchief and said, "Of course it's Chen, the top scholar of this year's exam."

"Chen, the champion, has passed the imperial examination and has a promising future. For such a happy occasion, please come to my Fuleyuan to hold a banquet to celebrate... You gentlemen are all scholars, so why don't you go with me to congratulate the champion?"

"With the literary aura of the top scholar, perhaps one of you gentlemen will pass the next exam!"

Unexpectedly, these scholars became angry: "Well, we are talking about his business here, but we didn't expect this shameless bastard to hold a banquet here to celebrate."

"This cheating champion, does he still feel proud of himself? His face is as thick as a city wall, he has no sense of shame!"

"Let's go! Let's go and expose his true colors! Let's see if he still has the nerve to chat and laugh in front of those courtesans and act like a top scholar!"

As they were talking, the group of people came in a mighty force and attacked the room of Chen An, the number one scholar. Then a dispute broke out between the two sides.

The banks of Qinhuai River were originally a gathering place for scholars who were going to take exams. Those who passed the exams, feeling very proud, would spend their time here sleeping among the beauties; those who failed the exams would drink here to drown their sorrows and console themselves for their disappointment.

When the noise was heard, scholars kept coming to join the two sides. In the end, it turned into a quarrel among scholars that alarmed the Five Cities Army.

"...You mean, someone cheated?" Song Zhong's pupils trembled, and he looked at Jiang Yushi, who also had his pupils trembled, in astonishment. Jiang Yushi asked: "Since you say so, do you have any evidence?"

"Why do you need evidence?" the scholar said, stiffening his neck. "It has already spread all over the streets and alleys! There was a cheating case in this exam, even passers-by know it!"

"If there is no cheating, why are all the people who passed the exam this year southerners? Are we northerners all inferior to southerners?"

"Yes!" "That's right!" "Today's imperial examination officials are all from the south. This move clearly shows that the examiners Liu Sanwu and Bai Xindao are biased towards the southerners!" "We were going to block the street and protest on the Imperial Street. The imperial examination is a grand ceremony for selecting talents for the country. How can these southerners be so presumptuous!"...

All of a sudden, all kinds of voices started to clamor.

The majority of people failed the imperial examination. The northerners were indignant, and the southerners who failed were mostly silent. The successful candidates, led by Chen An, argued loudly with red necks, but in the end, there were too few of them and their voices were drowned out.

By this time, Song Zhong had understood what Zhu Biao meant by "rumors about the imperial examinations". It turned out that someone was saying that there was cheating in the imperial examinations!

Imperial examination fraud has always been a major issue in every dynasty, let alone the fact that the new emperor has just ascended the throne and this is a special examination...

This is going to...break the sky!
Sweat was already oozing out of Song Zhong's forehead, and his hands were shaking slightly.

As soon as I took office, I encountered such major cases one after another...

"This... this..." Censor Jiang was obviously panicking. He was just a small official with no roots or background, otherwise he wouldn't have been so young and only had the title of a city inspector.

"Sir Song, what... should we do?" Helplessly, he had no choice but to hand over the leadership to Song Zhong, just like the captain of the Five Cities Army who had become completely invisible.

"...You have been reading poetry and books for a long time, yet you are gathering here to fight over such a groundless matter?" Many thoughts flashed through Song Zhong's mind as he tried to guess Zhu Biao's intention.

Since this matter has reached His Majesty's ears, and His Majesty has also ordered me to investigate, it is obvious that he does not want this matter to escalate for the time being. Although this rumor seems to have spread widely, I absolutely cannot admit that this matter involves a case of cheating in the imperial examination.

"How can you just make up stories? This is clearly..."

"Looking for opportunities to stir up trouble and causing injuries to others, is this the way of sages that you have learned from studying? If you continue to make trouble, I will lock you up and put you in jail for the crime of disturbing the imperial capital! Do you still want your scholar's hats and robes?" Song Zhong shouted.

The Jinyiwei were notorious for their viciousness. Although their status as scholars had not yet been deprived, their reputation was completely ruined after they were imprisoned for the crime of finding opportunities to cause trouble.

The scholars at that time had not yet developed the shamelessness of deliberately getting beaten in court to seek fame like those in later generations. Seeing Song Zhong getting angry, they finally calmed down.

"Thank you Lord Song for your help. Chen Anming is deeply grateful..." Seeing this, Chen An bowed to Song Zhong.

"Song has no intention of helping you." Song Zhong said, distancing himself from the matter. "It's just my duty. I can't just sit back and watch the city go into chaos."

He still didn't know what the truth was and what arrangements His Majesty had made. He didn't want to get involved with Chen An.

In a major fraud case, whoever is involved will die... If His Majesty thinks that I am intentionally favoring Chen An, how can I survive?
The scholars were quickly evacuated by the Jinyiwei and Wucheng Bingmasi, and seeing that the excitement was gone, the prostitutes and the people who were watching also dispersed. However, what was heard from here still spread secretly.

Soon, everyone in Beijing knew about the cheating in the imperial examination.

That Censor Jiang even reported the matter to Zhu Biao during the court meeting, bringing the matter of imperial examination fraud to the fore. In addition to him, more than a dozen other censors also wrote memorials on the matter, impeaching the chief examiner of the imperial examination, Hanlin Academician Liu Sanwu, and the imperial palace Ji Shanbai Xindao for favoritism and fraud, and only selecting southerners instead of northerners.

Regarding this case, Zhu Biao openly asked Liu Sanwu, Bai Xindao and others to submit memorials to defend themselves, but secretly urged Song Zhong and other Jinyiwei to speed up the search for the source of the rumor.

Song Zhong did not dare to neglect it. He stayed in the Jinyiwei Yamen every day, collecting information from all over, intending to find the mastermind behind the rumors.

If the mastermind behind the scenes could be found, it would undoubtedly be another huge achievement for the Jinyiwei. And he could also use this achievement to firmly secure his position as the commander of the Jinyiwei.

However, the final conclusion left Song Zhong dumbfounded... simply because there was no one behind the rumor, and there was not even any definite source.

It was actually a spontaneous act by the southern scholars who failed the exam...

(End of this chapter)