Chapter 2794: Not the second grade, dare not offend

The next day, Emperor Yuan Jing held another court meeting, which puzzled countless civil and military ministers. Nothing major had happened recently. According to Emperor Yuan Jing's nature, he shouldn't meditate and practice Taoism and refine elixirs. How could a court meeting be held suddenly and make people think so? Confused.

The civil and military ranks were divided. Emperor Yuan Jing sat on the dragon chair with a majestic and solemn expression. He overlooked the civil and military officials below. A wonderful feeling of superiority came to his heart. This is why everyone wants to be the emperor. , above all others, controlling the fate of thousands of people, this feeling is addictive.

Emperor Yuan Jing glanced at the old eunuch standing next to him, nodded, and indicated that he could start!

The old eunuch took a step forward and opened an imperial edict in his hand. His voice was clear and resonant. He had obviously been specially trained. He spoke clearly and loudly.

"It's up to heaven, the emperor decreed"

"Promote Xu Zisheng, the Minister of the Ministry of War, to the cabinet and serve as a bachelor of Wenhua Palace, and give him the title of Princess Wenhuaqing!"

There are six bachelors in the cabinet. Among them, Wang Wenzhen is the bachelor of Huagaidian. He is the chief minister of the cabinet and controls everything in the court. Wei Yuan is the bachelor of Wuyingdian. There are also the bachelors of Jinshendian and the bachelor of Wenhuadian. Wenyuange Bachelor, Dongge Bachelor.

The cabinet is not full. Now Xu Zisheng has entered the cabinet and serves as the bachelor of Wenhua Palace. His position of power has been further enhanced. He can truly be regarded as one of the three giants in the court. His strength and power are not weaker than Wang Wenzhen and Wei Yuan.

"I accept the decree!"

Xu Zisheng took a step forward and bowed slightly, giving Emperor Yuan Jing some face. After all, he was taking advantage of his father-in-law.

The expressions of the civil and military officials changed, and there was an uproar and discussion. All eyes were fixed on Xu Zisheng, a cabinet bachelor in his twenties, who was extremely powerful and powerful, which was simply shocking.

Xu Zisheng ignored the various gazes and looked extremely calm. After the imperial edict was read out, Xu Zisheng felt a huge amount of luck falling from the sky and fell on top of his head, making the awe-inspiring righteousness in his body ready to move towards the super Confucian saint again. He has taken a small step towards the realm of Confucianism. He can already clearly sense when he can step into the realm of Confucian sage. His heart is clear and he finally sees the supreme fruit of Confucianism.

At Lingbao Temple, an orange cat jumped lightly onto the wall, glanced at the quiet courtyard, and jumped down from the wall. It raised its tail, crossed the cobblestone path, came to the door of the quiet room, raised its paws, and knocked on the door.

The lattice door opened automatically, and Luo Yuheng's cold voice came out, speaking unceremoniously.

"Why did you come to my Lingbao Temple again?"

"well!"

The orange cat sighed, shaking the air, making a vicissitudes of voice, and said anxiously.

"Junior sister, please help me, my body is dying."

"I think you like your current body quite a lot."

Luo Yuheng had a teasing look on his face, his autumn eyes were watery and touching, and he looked at the orange cat outside the door.

"Junior sister, don't talk nonsense."

The orange cat was a little angry and spoke righteously. He didn't want to lean over the cat, it was just a helpless move.

"People of my generation do not stick to trivial matters."

"Stop talking nonsense, why did you come to me?"

Luo Yuheng has an extremely beautiful appearance. His every frown and smile are captivating and full of charm, making it difficult for people to control him. He is a beauty with a soft temper and a variety of charms.

The orange cat showed a human smile on his face and said shamelessly.

"I want to ask my junior sister for two blood fetus pills."

Luo Yuheng sighed and said sarcastically in a gentle voice, full of self-pity.

"I am just a beauty who confuses kings to practice Taoism and brings trouble to the imperial court. My elixirs are all people's treasures. Senior brother, aren't you afraid that after eating them, your karma will burn your body and your body will die?"

Taoist Priest Jinlian understood one truth, that is, never reason with a woman, he said flatteringly.

"Junior sister, what you said is wrong. Emperor Yuan Jing wants to practice Taoism. What does that have to do with you? If someone with evil intentions is replaced as the national preceptor, that is the real cause of trouble. Junior sister, it is because of the common people in the world that she takes over the post of national preceptor. , keep an eye on Emperor Yuan Jing personally. Otherwise, the court would have been in chaos."

Luo Yuheng sighed quietly, with a sad look on his face, which was particularly pitiful and full of mature temptation.

"It would be great if everyone in the world could see clearly and clearly like my senior brother! In fact, you are right. Since you have borrowed the luck of the court to practice, you should be criticized by words and writings!"

"Then, what about the Blood Fetus Pill?"

"One blood fetus pill, thirty-eight taels of gold. Out of sympathy for my fellow disciples, I will wipe off the small change for my senior brother and give him sixty taels of gold."

"If I have so much money, why would I be looking for you!!"

Taoist priest Jin Lian's face was stiff and he pondered for a moment. Taoist priest Jin Lian climbed over the threshold and entered the quiet room. He looked at the stunning beauty sitting cross-legged on the futon and discussed.

"How about I exchange the information for the Blood Fetus Pills?"

Luo Yuheng did not open his eyes, with his five hearts facing upward, his delicate face like a jade carving, his red lips lightly parted, and said disdainfully.

"Although senior brother has a lot of information, I'm not interested."

The orange cat's green eyes stared at her faintly, pondered for a moment, and then said.

"What if it's Xu Zisheng's information?"

Luo Yuheng immediately opened his eyes, frowned slightly, his expression became more solemn, his lips moved slightly, and his voice was melodious and appealing.

"Have you ever been in contact with Xu Zisheng?"

"Yes, that day I gave Xu Zisheng the fragment of the book from the earth that I wanted to give, but he seemed to have figured out my identity, so he only chose a string of bodhi beads and sold seventy taels of gold to Princess Huaiqing. At that time I knew there must be a deep connection between them and a marriage!”

When Luo Yuheng heard this, his expression changed slightly. He was indeed more interested, his attitude changed a bit, he became more kind, and he said.

"Brother, tell me your information. I agree to this deal!"

"You also know that when I attacked the first-class land gods, I suffered a backlash from my luck, and that's why I ended up in this situation, and I also lost the Earth Sect's foundation!"

Luo Yuheng naturally knew about this and nodded slightly, looking lazy and even a little gloating.

Six years ago, Taoist Jin Lian, the leader of the Earth Sect, failed to break through and fell into the devil's way. His soul was split into two. He held the fragments of the Earth Book with good thoughts and protected some disciples from escaping. The evil thoughts affected most of the disciples and split into two. The Tiandihui and Dizong.

Now Taoist Black Lotus leads the Taoist Earth Sect, forcing Taoist Jinlian to hide in Tibet. In order to eliminate his evil clone, Heilian, Taoist Jinlian gave eight fragments of the Earth Book to eight different people. Taoist Master Jin Lian, who holds the No. 9 fragment of the Book of Earth, himself, these nine people form the core of the Tiandihui.

The purpose of the establishment of the Tiandihui is to win over the younger generation of masters, exchange information, and help each other, waiting for everyone to grow up one day and join hands to fight against the black lotus, the leader of the Earth Sect.

Luo Yuheng moved his delicate body, leaned back slightly, exposed his white neck, and said.

"These are all old things, what's the point of talking about them! So what?"

The orange cat's eyes were shining with a strange light, and the change of expression could be seen from the furry face. It seemed to be proud, but also seemed to be sighing.

"Although I have not succeeded in breaking through and entering the realm of first-class land gods, I have gained something. You also know that the eight people in the Tiandihui are all people with great luck. I have gained some mysteries in the art of watching Qi. It can be seen that I have seen Something I can’t do!”

When Luo Yuheng heard this, his expression became a little more solemn. Taoist Jinlian once told him that Xu Qi'an had different luck and was pregnant with great luck, but she couldn't see any clue. She also admired Taoist Jinlian's qi-gazing technique and couldn't help but straighten up. He raised his body, leaned forward slightly, and asked in a deep voice.

"What secret did you see in Xu Zisheng that made you so cautious?"

Taoist Jinlian seemed to have acquired some cat habits due to leaning over cats for a long time. He habitually stretched out his pink tongue and licked his palms to relieve the restlessness in his heart, and then he spoke. .

"At that time, I saw that Xu Zisheng's Confucianism and Taoism were not the second-grade Confucianism that the outside world thought!"

As soon as these words came out, Luo Yuheng was stunned on the spot, his brows furrowed, his pupils shrank, but his eyes widened. He was dumbfounded and had many distracting thoughts. He almost couldn't suppress the fire of karma and triggered the disaster.

"call!"

Luo Yuheng breathed a long sigh of relief, calmed down the restless energy in his body, and said with great solemnity.

"You mean"

"That's right, it's what you think, junior sister. Xu Zisheng broke through to the first-grade sub-saint realm back then, but he kept it secret and never revealed it to the outside world!"

Taoist Jin Lian took cat steps, with an enchanting posture, and slowly walked to the opposite side of Luo Yuheng and lay down, his eyes flashing with strange light, and he said in a condensed voice.

"Back then, he had already entered the realm of a first-grade sub-sage, but now he suddenly wants to enter the cabinet and wants to gain more luck from the court. Could it be that he is preparing to break through to the realm of a super-grade Confucian saint in the future!"

"Emperor Yuan Jing thought he wanted to break through to the first-grade Yasheng, but it seems that he was plotted against him. What a terrifying young man!"

"It seems that we need to tell Emperor Yuan Jing about this matter!"

Luo Yuheng showed some thoughts on his face and said softly.

"Junior sister, this must not be done!"

Orange Cat stood up suddenly and quickly stopped Luo Yuheng from informing Emperor Yuan Jing.

"Why?"

Luo Yuheng was puzzled when he heard this, glanced at the orange cat with bright eyes, and asked softly.

"The Confucian first-class sub-sages are the most powerful in all major cultivation systems. Why should we offend such a genius for the sake of Emperor Yuan Jing? It is really unwise!"

Although Taoist Jin Lian has never seen the power of a first-grade sub-sage, he knows very well about Confucianism and Taoism. Four hundred years ago, Buddhism was so tyrannical that Confucianism drove out Dafeng and promoted the extermination of Buddhism.

"Everyone here is a younger brother, they are all rubbish!"

This sentence was often spoken when Confucianism was prosperous. When practitioners of other cultivation systems heard it, they didn't even dare to let out a fart and kept smiling. This shows that Confucianism is tyrannical.

"You are right, there is really no need for me to offend such a powerful enemy!"

Luo Yuheng is now in the second-level realm of transcending tribulation. He needs luck to reach the first-level land immortal realm. During the critical period, there is no need to provoke Xu Zisheng, and he cannot afford to offend Xu Zisheng.

A first-class terrestrial immortal can transcend reincarnation and the five elements. He can turn stones into gold, move mountains and seas, and be free between heaven and earth. He will remain youthful forever and have endless longevity. For Luo Yuheng, the most important thing is to attack the realm of first-class land gods, and no extraneous matters should be allowed.

The orange cat squatted for a moment. Seeing Luo Yuheng in a daze, he couldn't help coughing and reminded him.

"I wonder if this information is worth two blood fetus pills?"

As soon as he finished speaking, he saw two porcelain bottles flying out of Luo Yuheng's sleeves. The porcelain was white and translucent. The orange cat opened its mouth, swallowed the two porcelain bottles and put them away, smiling.

"Thank you, junior sister."

The orange cat took light steps, raised its tail, shook its butt, and happily ran into the flower garden and left Lingbao Temple.

Luo Yuheng was like a sculpture, sitting cross-legged for a long time. Suddenly, his long and curled eyelashes trembled, and the jade beauty came to life. She raised her arms, her sleeves slipped down, her fair and exquisite jade hands twisted the hairpin, and pulled it gently. The lotus crown rolled down, the soft green hair lost its restraint, and poured down like water, the country was beautiful and fragrant.

"A first-grade sub-sage, Xu Zisheng, is really enviable!"

In the cabinet, Wang Zhenwen, who was wearing a scarlet robe, was sitting at his desk reviewing papers. He had been sitting there for two hours and had gone to the toilet several times. The rest of the time he devoted himself to official duties.

The cabinet is equivalent to the emperor's personal secretary and has great power, much higher than the six ministries. All memorials of the imperial court, large and small, and even suggestions put forward by the common people to the emperor were collected by the General Affairs Envoy, and the Chief of Ceremonies submitted them to the emperor for review, and then to the cabinet.

The cabinet is responsible for drafting the handling opinions, and then the ceremonial supervisor will submit the opinions to the emperor for final decision on how to deal with the matter, and finally the six departments will proofread and issue it. In the reign of Emperor Yuan Jing, the general affairs envoy directly forwarded the memorial to the cabinet, which drafted handling opinions and finally handed it over to Emperor Yuan Jing.

A process is omitted in the middle. This is because Emperor Yuan Jing believed that the extra steps hindered his practice. It is precisely this omitted process in the middle that is most tricky. Because in this way, what Emperor Yuan Jing saw was just the information that the cabinet let him see.

Of course, although Emperor Yuan Jing was not a good emperor, he was an emperor who was good at using power. In order to curb the excessive power of civilian officials and evade imperial power, he thought of a way to get the best of both worlds.

The name of this method is Wei Yuan. From a large perspective, the various parties are in conflict with the Wei Yuan Party. From a small perspective, the parties are fighting fiercely with each other. Emperor Yuan Jing sat firmly on the Diaoyutai, responsible for maintaining balance and practicing Taoism with peace of mind.

Wang Zhenwen opened the last memorial and after reading the contents, he pondered and sat quietly for a long time. Then he took out a piece of paper, wrote down his own suggestions, and pasted it on the memorial. After doing all this, he happened to be off at dusk.

The next day, Emperor Yuan Jing finished his meditation, studied scriptures for half an hour, took elixirs, and closed his eyes to relax with a stick of incense. The morning class was finally over.

At this time, Emperor Yuan Jing would take some time to review the memorial, and it would not take too long, because the cabinet had already prepared the vote, and he only needed to approve it. He opened the first document, which was a memorial from the new censor of the Metropolitan Procuratorate. The content was that Zhao Tingfang, a scholar of Dongge University, had accepted bribes and leaked questions to Xu Xinyin, a student of Yunlu Academy.

The excerpt also provides evidence that during the provincial examination, Xu's New Year poems were ranked fourth, so how could he write such a masterpiece as "The Journey Is Difficult"?

Seeing this, Emperor Yuan Jing didn't care at first. Poetry is not an article. If the article reveals the title, it is of a very serious nature. Poetry is lighter. Even if you know the test questions, you find it more difficult to find a poet than to get the test questions. But in the end, it was mentioned in the memorial that the student Nai had a cousin, Yin Luo, who worked as a watchman in the Yamen, named Xu Qian.

As we all know, Xu Qi'an is the chief poet of the Great Feng Dynasty. He has written many works that have been handed down from generation to generation. His poetic talent is unparalleled. Even the oiran of the Jiaofang Division admires his talent and is willing to spend money to sleep with him for the sake of good conversation.

After reading the memorial, Emperor Yuan Jing's pupils sharpened, but he did not express an opinion. Then he took off the cabinet's draft, which contained the suggestions of Wang Wenzhen, the chief minister of the cabinet.

"The imperial examination has been a top priority since ancient times for the imperial court to select talents. Fraud in the imperial examination cannot be tolerated. I hope your majesty will investigate it strictly."

Emperor Jing of the Yuan Dynasty pondered for a moment, picked up his pen and criticized the red book, then gently threw the book to the old eunuch and asked with a smile.

"My dear friend, please tell me, is there any fraud in the celebration of the New Year?"

The old eunuch took the book, glanced at it quickly, and answered with extreme caution.

"This old slave is stupid, but I think there is something fishy about this matter!"

Emperor Yuan Jing stared at the old eunuch for a few seconds, which made him frightened, and then gave the order.

"Order the government office and the Ministry of Criminal Justice to handle this case and make sure to get to the bottom of it."

After the old eunuch was ordered to retreat, Emperor Yuan Jing sat on the dragon chair, looked at the blue sky outside the imperial study, suddenly smiled and said in a deep voice.

"Kill three eagles with one stone."

The old eunuch in the python robe left the royal study, walked quickly with his head lowered, and after walking for a hundred meters, he patted his chest in fear, his face was gloomy, and he sighed secretly.

"You asked me after you were criticized?! Wei Yuan, Wei Yuan, it's not that our family won't help you, our family's life is the most important thing."

Soon after, the palace's order was sent to the Ministry of Punishment and the government office respectively. Sun Shangshu of the Ministry of Punishment seemed to have expected it. After receiving the order, he immediately sent people to arrest Xu New Year.

After receiving the order from the palace, Chen Fuyin of Jingzhao Mansion sighed and shook his head helplessly.

"There are times when there are strong winds and waves. I'm just afraid that a big wave will hit you and destroy your boat."

"Immediately send someone to arrest Xu New Year and take him back to the Yamen for interrogation. Be sure to catch him before the Criminal Department. At the same time, send someone to notify Xu Yinluo!"

Chen Fuyin and Xu Qi'an were old friends, so naturally they were happy to betray their favor and capture Xu Xinnian first. This was also a kind of protection for him, lest he be taken to the Ministry of Punishment, suffer severe torture, and become unable to bear the confession.

…

In the Xu Mansion, the spring is warm. In the Xu New Year, people put the desk under the shade of the trees. The sunlight shines through the branches and leaves, and the light and shadow are mottled. The hands do not let go of the book, and they are extremely focused.

Suddenly a group of officers and soldiers rushed in, pushed the concierge Lao Zhang to the ground, and went straight to the inner courtyard. The leader of the group, the arrester, held a portrait in his hand, compared it, and pointed at Xu Xinnian, who was reading under the shade of a tree. , shouted.

"This person is Xu New Year, take it!"

"What did Xu commit?"

Xu New Year frowned, but he didn't panic. After experiencing Xu Qian's imprisonment several times, he was now able to face the arrests of the Criminal Department calmly.

"We followed the order of the Ministry of Punishment to take Xu Huiyuan back to the Yamen for questioning."

Xu New Year did not resist and allowed the people from the Ministry of Justice to take him away. After all, he did not know what happened and did not dare to act recklessly.

At the yamen, a police officer from Jingzhao Mansion hurriedly came over. After making a report, he saw Xu Qian and said quickly.

"Sir Xu, the governor asked me to tell you that your Majesty has issued an order to investigate Xu Huiyuan's imperial examination fraud."

Xu Qian's eyebrows skipped a beat. The song "It's Difficult to Travel" was indeed given by me, but is this considered fraud in the imperial examination? I was the one who guessed the exam questions. The imperial court did not support this kind of thing, but it never prohibited it. There is a custom of guessing the questions in scholars. Strictly speaking, it is not considered cheating. No, the problem itself is not fraud.