Chapter 957

No one would have thought that a civil service examination fraud case would erupt just because of a petty remark made in a brothel out of jealousy.

The students participating in the civil service examination gathered spontaneously; as long as someone took the lead with a command, this group of angry students, whose minds were clouded by hot-bloodedness, ran in a mighty force to storm government offices, attack officials, post big-character posters, and write articles. Any official involved in this examination, with a name and surname, was on the list.

In an instant, the entire capital was ignited!

Emperor Emperor Jian Shi cut the Gordian knot with a sharp knife, decisively dismissing Left Chancellor Lord Hai and appointing Xie Changling as the Grand Secretary, serving as Left Chancellor, with full authority over the case. He ordered the Three Judicial Offices and the Brocade Uniform Guard to cooperate with Xie Changling to thoroughly investigate the fraud case.

Everyone in the imperial court knew that the original plan was just to wait for the Prince of Chu to be executed, and Xie Changling would then rightfully assume the position of Grand Secretary. Lord Hai was just a transition.

Now it was just a little bit ahead of time.

Therefore, there was no objection in the imperial court to Emperor Emperor Jian Shi's decision. Even if some people were unconvinced in their hearts, they were convinced by Xie Changling's leadership in their words, recognizing his ability to lead the Secretariat in handling major military and state affairs.

The fraud case was the first major military and state affair handled by Xie Changling after assuming the position of Grand Secretary.

Everyone wanted to weigh his worth.

Xie Changling was under pressure, but more than that, he was filled with heroic ambition. From now on, except for the Emperor, there would be no more obstacles. As the head of all officials, he was below one person but above ten thousand!

The pinnacle of civil officials!

He acted with vigor and speed, first putting the Northwest aside. The death of the old lady of the Marquis's mansion was not important, the injury of Marquis Pingjiang was not important, and whether Marquis Pingjiang would return to the capital or whether the Emperor would waive the mourning period was not important at all.

Moreover, he did his best to soothe Emperor Emperor Jian Shi, analyzing the pros and cons, solving the fraud case first, and then it would be the Prince of Chu's turn. In short, Marquis Pingjiang had to be placed last.

Emperor Emperor Jian Shi was quite unwilling.

All the little tricks he had secretly played were merely to force Marquis Pingjiang to return to the capital.

Now that it had to be put aside, how could he be willing.

"Your Majesty, your humble servant promised you that I would definitely find a way to force Marquis Pingjiang to return to the capital, and I will definitely do it. I ask Your Majesty to give your humble servant some time to solve the current fraud case first."

Emperor Emperor Jian Shi pursed his lips, his face stern, and it was a long while before he said: "Fine! I will give you time, don't let me down."

"Your humble servant would not dare to let Your Majesty down!"

Emperor Emperor Jian Shi forced himself to wait patiently, waiting for the right moment.

Xie Changling personally convened a meeting of the Three Judicial Offices and the Brocade Uniform Guard to assign tasks.

After the meeting, major government offices were dispatched to arrest people everywhere.

Arresting officials, students, and merchants, they were detained in various prisons in the capital.

The Heavenly Prison also ushered in a peak period because of this.

The official with the most noble status detained in the Heavenly Prison was none other than the Vice Minister of the Ministry of Rites, Lord Wang Huaimin.

Next was Zhang Yulang of the Zhang family in Nanqing.

Zhang Yulang's official position was very small, only holding a seventh-rank idle post in the government office, and he didn't handle any affairs at all. His main work on weekdays was eating, drinking, and having fun.

The reason he was involved was said to be that the examination questions were leaked from his hands. Moreover, the Zhang family and the Minister of Rites were in-laws. This explained why Zhang Yulang could get the examination questions and leak them.

Of course, all of this was currently in the investigation stage and had not yet reached a final conclusion.

With such a big case, and some prisoners detained in the Heavenly Prison, Chen Guanlou couldn't help but inspect the A-block cells a few more times.

He first went to visit Vice Minister Wang Huaimin.

"Is Lord Wang accustomed to living here?"

Wang Huaimin sat on the prison bed, his attitude calm and composed, "Many thanks for your concern, Jiang Jiang Yucheng Chen, I am doing well. I wonder if those students are detained in the Heavenly Prison?"

"I didn't expect that even though you are trapped in prison, my lord, you are still concerned about the safety of the students in this civil service examination. It's a pity that they are not detained in the Heavenly Prison. I heard they are detained at the Court of Judicial Review."

"The Court of Judicial Review?" Wang Huaimin frowned slightly, "Forget it! It's still better than being detained in the Imperial Prison."

"You are right, my lord. If those students had entered the Imperial Prison, even if they could safely leave prison in the end, their civil service examination and official career would be cut off for life."

People who enter the Imperial Prison, even if they can come out alive, will either be disfigured or left disabled. Both of these conditions prevent them from participating in the civil service examination, thus cutting off their official career.

The Imperial Prison is always a place that ruins people!

In the whole world, I'm afraid only the Heavenly Prison is as disciplined as this, giving prisoners decency if they pay enough money.

"Are you not worried about your own situation, my lord? In this fraud case, His Majesty is furious, and Lord Left Chancellor is personally supervising it, saying he will punish it severely. After the case is investigated clearly, without any accidents, at least dozens of heads will fall. Among them, there might be you, my lord! Just heads falling is not enough; it will also implicate family members, and even the nine generations."

Wang Huaimin snorted coldly, "I have acted uprightly and honestly, I am not afraid of investigation."

"Your Ministry of Rites has already been raided, so just relying on your own statement of innocence, my lord, won't work."

"Are you here to laugh at me?" Wang Huaimin questioned sternly.

As expected of a Vice Minister of the Ministry of Rites, he was full of official authority.

Chen Guanlou shook his head, "You misunderstood, my lord. I am reminding you to consider the long term. If you have any needs, such as running errands or passing messages, you can entrust them to me; the price is negotiable."

Wang Huaimin narrowed his eyes slightly, sizing up the other party, and while evaluating, said: "I have long heard that the Jiang Jiang Yucheng of the Heavenly Prison is very capable of making money, does things very well, and seems to have no path you cannot navigate. In the past, I thought it was just hearsay and not worth believing. Now it seems the rumors were not exaggerated. You seem very confident in running errands for me, and even confident in exonerating me."

"You misunderstood, my lord; what kind of prominent figure am I, what virtue or ability do I have to dare to exonerate you. Besides, your case is still under investigation, and the division of responsibility hasn't been determined yet. The most I can do is run errands and pass messages. The premise is that you need it."

Chen Guanlou smiled, his attitude very good.

He wanted to make this deal.

Even if it didn't work out, doing the other party a favor would be fine.

A dignified Vice Minister of the Ministry of Rites has a great possibility of escaping from this case.

The Great Gan kills officials very fiercely! They raise the butcher's knife and chop, never sparing the lives of officials.

However, for the high-ranking bureaucratic class and top-level big-shot officials, they are usually very tolerant and won't chop off heads at every turn.

The case of Chancellor Wu was purely being implicated, implicated by the Prince of Jin.

Since ancient times, being implicated in the struggle for the throne, no matter how high your official position or how rich your salary, you will eventually receive the 'extermination of nine generations' package.

The people who determine the charges and sentencing are also big shots in the officialdom. Even if these big shots don't think for others, they will think for themselves. If one day they fall into trouble and become prisoners, today's good deed might benefit their tomorrow's self.

Therefore, Chen Guanlou was confident that Wang Huaimin should have a chance to be acquitted. Even if he couldn't retreat unscathed, he wouldn't lose his head.

Unless Emperor Emperor Jian Shi wants to kill the chicken to warn the monkey, disregarding the criticism of the ministers, and insists on chopping off the heads of a few big shots.

"Do I need it?"