The First Gongsheng of Ming Dynasty

Chapter 166 Leave a way for Cheng Minzheng to survive
Zhang Zhou originally thought that he would be able to leave by talking to Zhu Youtang about some important things.

As a result, Zhu Youtang talked about the military affairs of the Northwest with him, and it was like pouring bitter water when he talked about it. From the military affairs of the Northwest to the philosophy of governing the country, then from the philosophy of governing the country to the prince’s education, and from the prince’s education to his own childhood……

Seeing the sky gradually dim down.

Zhang Zhou felt as if he had entered a wolf's den.

It seems that the matter that he has been thinking about going home to practice gymnastics at night will be delayed.

"Hold the lamp." Zhu Youtang realized that the sky was a bit dark, so he said something, and then someone lit the candlesticks in the Qianqing Palace, and the lanterns were hung up, and the hall was brightly lit.

"Bingkuan, you are going to see the Empress Dowager later, she keeps mentioning that she wants to see you, but you have to be careful when you go, the Empress Dowager may tell you some... not very good things." Zhu Youtang probably also knew that the Empress Dowager Zhou might tell Zhang Zhou about his past rotten rice, and even ask Zhang Zhou to persuade him to accept a concubine or something like that.

So Zhu Youtang felt that it was necessary to make it clear to Zhang Zhou.

"Yes." Zhang Zhou said, "Your Majesty, can I resign?"

Zhu Youtang laughed and said, "Why are you leaving in such a hurry? There's nothing else to say?"

Zhang Zhoudao: "I really have one."

"Look, if you don't ask, you don't tell. Why are there so many taboos between monarchs and ministers? Tell me." Zhu Youtang looked very polite.

Zhang Zhouxin said, you are the emperor, you can say that.

It would be disrespectful for me, a courtier, to say this to you.

Only then did Zhang Zhou seriously say: "Your Majesty, since the second session, when I left the tribute court, I heard the rumors of the question. After the third session, the rumors became more and more intense. After thinking about it, I probably It is the exam questions for this exam, especially the questions for the second and third rounds, which are a bit more difficult. Although this shows the strength of the examiners, it may not be the best exam questions from the perspective of talent selection."

"En." Zhu Youtang nodded, then looked at Xiao Jing beside him and said, "Did Dongchang hear the news?"

Xiao Jing hurriedly said: "Yes. There are some rumors outside... that are not good for Bachelor Cheng. In fact, there have been rumors since before the exam. It also involves... a candidate named Xu Jing. It is said that this person is Jiangnan He once went out to boast about visiting Bachelor Cheng, and it is said that he once asked people with quizzes from the exam... But after checking, the so-called quizzes were not from this exam topic."

"Xu Jing?"

Zhu Youtang frowned.

He didn't have any prejudice against these ordinary scholars, but from what Xiao Jing said, Xu Jing was so high-profile, is he stupid or courting death?

I don't know how to avoid this kind of thing before I try it?Still take the question to ask, and still say it's a question?
What a fool every year!

Zhang Zhou said with a smile: "I have also heard about this person. It is said that as soon as he arrived in the capital, he went to visit the Bachelor of Process with Tang Yin Tang Bohu, the Yayuan Tang Yin of this Jiangnan provincial examination."

Zhu Youtang suddenly thought of something, nodded and said: "I remember, you and that Tang Bohu seem to have a similar bet, saying that if he falls behind you in the general examination, he will join you in the same division. door. Is there such a thing?"

Zhang Zhou thought to himself, sure enough, the emperor is very concerned about my affairs.

From the nearly grudge-like bet with Xu Han before to the emotional dispute with Tang Yin, the emperor was able to find out, which also showed that Dongchang was not bad in terms of efficiency.

"There is such a thing." Zhang Zhou said.

Zhu Youtang nodded: "Bingkuan, in fact, I said earlier that I would not have considered Cheng Minzheng as the chief examiner. Now that you have proposed it, what suggestion do you have?"

Zhang Zhoudao: "Actually, I just want to mention this matter, so that Your Majesty can be prepared. Maybe the official censor will use this matter to attack Cheng Xueshi recently. As a candidate for this exam, I may It will be involved in the question, so it is not appropriate to say too much."

"Hehe, how could you be involved in it? Didn't you guess that there might be such a thing in the early morning, so you are so cautious that you haven't even seen Cheng Minzheng?"

Zhu Youtang smiled.

He now felt Zhang Zhou's cleverness.

At the beginning, Zhu Youtang tried his best to match him up, and wanted Cheng Minzheng to cultivate Zhang Zhou's knowledge more. After all, in Zhu Youtang's view, Cheng Minzheng was the most knowledgeable person in the entire imperial court.

It was Zhang Zhou himself who voluntarily declined, indicating that the move might be criticized, and he gave up on the matter.

Now things are starting to become clear... If Cheng Minzheng was really involved in the case, and Zhang Zhou did not shy away from being Cheng Minzheng's student at that time, with Zhang Zhou's high profile, he would definitely be mobbed and attacked, and it would be difficult to clean himself up suspicion.

Zhang Zhouzhou said with a distressed face: "Your Majesty, I don't want to get involved. I didn't intend to have any personal relationship with Cheng Xueshi from the beginning, but it is... the selection of the Imperial Academy's tribute was selected by Cheng Xueshi. And then ...As Jiangnan Xieyuan, I did some high-profile things in the capital before, I was afraid...others would not think that I was a real talent, so...I am embarrassed to say it."

Zhu Youtang was just laughing when he heard the words.

Dai Yi next to him said: "Mr. Zhang, you are worrying too much, those scholars must be unreasonable after all, right?"

Hey.

Zhang Zhou wants to say, you are really right.

Those scholars who have the right to speak, the biggest characteristic is that they are unreasonable in their positions. Strictly speaking, you, Dai Yi, are not considered scholars. Your knowledge is enough to be a scholar. How can you understand the mentality of those scholars?
"Bingkuan, if you have an opinion, just say it."

Zhu Youtang is very sincere and wants to hear Zhang Zhou's opinion on this matter.

Zhang Zhoudao: "Your Majesty, this is what I think. As far as whether Bachelor Cheng has participated in the question, I think that there is no real evidence whether he has participated or not."

"Ah."

Zhu Youtang nodded.

He agrees with this.

There was a rumor about Cheng Minzheng's questioning before. The biggest problem is not whether there is or not, but that it is difficult to prove.

Said yes, the imperial court helped the scholars find evidence, but couldn't find it.

Saying no, it's very difficult for Cheng Minzheng to prove his innocence. Others just insist on it, and let the court investigate...the court can't help Cheng Minzheng clear his innocence.

Zhang Zhou continued: "In the absence of evidence, the scholars will start with Cheng Xueshi's character and attack."

"Character? Is there a problem with Cheng Minzheng's character?" Zhu Youtang didn't understand too much, "In recent years, Cheng Minzheng has not been in power for much time, and I have less contact with him, but he is talented and knowledgeable. , or the self-restraint of being a human being, it should not be easy for people to find out bad deeds."

Zhang Zhou wanted to say, Your Majesty, you still have too much confidence in Cheng.

Or.

You are confident now, but when the public opinion becomes entangled and the three of them become tigers, I am afraid that even you will not be so sure that Cheng Minzheng is a good person.

In particular, Cheng Minzheng's final conclusion in this case is also "to get rich, not to avoid suspicion, to tarnish Wenheng, and to attract controversy", which is to say that Xu Jing once bribed Cheng Minzheng with gold coins, but later Xu Jing and Cheng Minzheng also He said that the so-called asking for papers with gold coins, and asking about the possibility of asking questions in the meeting, was because of "fear of torture, so he falsely surrendered", meaning that he was beaten into a trick because of severe torture.

Later Xu Jing and Tang Yin's crimes were not bribery or extortion, but "seeking progress through fate".

In general, there is no factual evidence, and you take advantage of your negligence in doing things, each of you will hit [-] boards, and the case will be closed.

The purpose is only to calm public opinion as soon as possible.

Zhang Zhou said with a smile: "Your Majesty, it doesn't really matter whether there are bad deeds or not. The difficulty lies in how to prove that there are no bad deeds!"

Zhu Youtang frowned, as if he didn't understand.

Dai Yi asked on behalf of the emperor, "Are there any bad deeds... rely on proof?"

Zhang Zhou smiled.

In other cases, it is true that there is no need to prove whether a person has bad deeds, but the problem is that when someone deliberately pours dirty water on you, you have to prove yourself that you are clean... This is difficult.

Under the circumstances of being bombarded by public opinion, proving his guilt has become "self-proving innocent", and the difficulty can be imagined.

Zhang Zhoudao: "Your Majesty, it has only been a year since Xueshi Cheng returned to the court, but after Ying Chunxie came to Beijing, many people went to visit, and he didn't seem to shy away from seeing each other. This alone will make him fall into a whirlpool and cannot extricate himself .”

"what is your opinion?"

After all, Zhu Youtang's realm is higher than that of Dai Yi and others. His understanding of Cheng Minzheng will naturally have something in common with Zhang Zhou.

Cheng Minzheng did not shy away from meeting candidates, which was also fatal to the emperor.

Public opinion is sometimes unprincipled, and even he, the emperor, has to issue his own edict to calm public opinion, let alone Cheng Minzheng?

Zhu Youtang felt that it was his eagerness to promote Cheng Minzheng that made him a target of public criticism.

Zhang Zhou cupped his hands and said, "Your Majesty, is it really okay for me to just raise my opinion and treat the chief examiner who will take the exam?"

"Bingkuan, what opinion do you have, only me and them know, who will tell outsiders?" Zhu Youtang was also anxious.

After talking for a long time, still playing charades?
Zhang Zhoudao: "Then your majesty might as well make a decree on this, let Cheng Xueshi stop the matter of reviewing the papers immediately, and let him avoid suspicion first. If the criticism against him from the outside continues, your majesty has no choice, and try his best...to guard him In the apartment, don't use torture, I'm afraid his body... won't be able to hold on."

Zhang Zhou also didn't think from the direction of completely exonerating Cheng Minzheng.

Things were about to happen, and just thinking about acquitting Cheng Minzheng would not be able to suppress public opinion.

Cheng Minzheng has too many points that can be attacked, and the most important thing is that he is not a member of the mainstream civil servant faction, and the emperor admires him very much... This will cause even his colleagues to make trouble secretly. In the future, everyone will think that he is "guilty" from the bottom of their hearts, and let Cheng Minzheng prove his innocence.

How easy is it?

In history, Cheng Minzheng died only because he was beaten too far and died of paralysis.

As long as this guy doesn't get tortured and gives him a way to survive, even if he suffers a little bit of grievance, that's what he deserves. Who told him to show off his teeth and claws like nothing?

Anyway, he has been in the court for many years, and he was framed not once or twice.

This old guy is too lazy to prove his innocence when he is attacked because the sky is cloudy and not rainy. He would rather stay at home for many years...

It is more appropriate to let him go back to study than to let him be an official.

There may be a chance to be used by the court in the future.

(End of this chapter)