"Back to the emperor, it is true that it has not been announced yet. Originally, Zhang Fuyin planned to announce the county examination rankings immediately after the third ranking came out. He even wrote the rankings. On that ranking list, Zhiwei layman was third. But.

I don’t know why, but before posting it, Zhang Fuyin asked the yamen to put it away first and did not post it.”

Xiao Ge nodded.

It seems that there is indeed a problem. Otherwise Zhang Li would not have announced the list immediately. He wanted to see the reactions of all parties.

Whose reaction should we look at? Princess Shang De, or someone else?

Xiao Ge's eyes turned cold and he ordered: "Don't do anything, just wait. After the list is announced, you can show me the test papers of the top ten candidates."

"yes."

The imperial guards retreated, but Xiao Ge's heart could not calm down. He stared at the memorial in a daze for a while, and then asked Mr. Xie: "If the examiners want to suppress Zhao Zhiwei's ranking for the sake of male candidates, you say,

What should I do?"

Eunuch Xie naturally knew that what he was asking was not about Zhao Zhiwei, but the problems he would face in the future.

The men in the court have always looked down upon women. No matter who is the examiner, if the ranking can be changed, Zhao Zhiwei's ranking will definitely be pushed down.

They will think: What's the use of women doing well in exams? Even if they win the top prize, they still have to go back and get married, just to satisfy their vanity. But it's different if this quota is given to a male candidate. That male candidate can

Make a lifetime contribution to the court.

This problem is not only faced by the courtiers, but the emperor himself may not have thought about it.

Naturally, Eunuch Xie couldn't say anything about this kind of thing. How to deal with the issue of women's participation in politics was not something that he, a chamberlain, could comment on.

But he wanted to have a say in Zhao Zhiwei's matter.

He could take the risk of being blamed by the emperor and spend more than 20,000 taels of silver to take back Zhao Zhiwei's paintings. He really liked Zhao Zhiwei's paintings.

Xie Gonggong said: "Before the county examination, Princess Shangde came into the palace and wanted the emperor to give her justice..."

Xiao Ge blinked and came back to his senses.

At that time, she wanted to be fair, so he agreed to her. However, at that time, he was afraid that Concubine Jin or Princess Pingyang would interfere in the imperial examination and cause trouble during the invigilation, so Xiao Ge specially sent Qin Zhe to be the examiner.

It's just that he didn't expect that there was no problem when he was invigilating the exam, but there was a problem when it came time to record the results.

Although the official position of the governor of the capital is small, it is more important because it is in charge of the capital. Therefore, when selecting officials, Xiao Ge deliberately chose a neutral faction.

Zhang Li came from a poor family. After passing the Jinshi examination, he worked as a county magistrate. From a small county to a large county, his political performance has always been good and his reputation is also very good. Most importantly, it is said that this man is very upright.

At that time, the former governor of the capital was trapped by the powerful people. After Wu Huaisi discussed with Xiao Ge, he promoted Zhang Li to this position.

To be on the safe side, before the county examination, Xiao Ge specially asked someone to check Zhang Li again. He found that Zhang Li was indeed not from any faction and was indeed an upright person, so he felt relieved and ignored this link.

But now we still cannot give "fairness" to Shang De and Zhao Zhiwei.

He nodded: "I know what to do."

He couldn't afford anything else, but he could still afford the word "fairness".

"The official assigned to Uncle Suiping will draw up the decree now. Xie An, go and deliver the decree in person." He ordered.

"yes."

After passing on the decree, the officials in charge of the cabinet drafted it. Eunuch Xie returned to the main hall and asked Xiao Ge again: "Where is the government office..."

A coldness flashed in Xiao Ge's eyes: "Check it out and see who Zhang Li has interacted with since he became the governor of the capital."

This Zhang Li, he and Wu Huaisi both misjudged him.

It would be fine if this man was just a chauvinist, but not only did he not take Zhao Zhiwei seriously, he also set a trap for Princess Shang De. He didn't look like the upright neutralist he appeared to be.

Anyone with a glance could know the emperor's attitude towards Zhao Zhiwei. Didn't you see that he sent Qin Zhe, who had always been indifferent to things, as an examiner?

That's it, Zhang Li dared to tamper with the county examination, and even set up a trap for Princess Shangde to jump out of. His tendency is obvious no matter how you look at it.

The Xiao family has always respected the theory of nourishing cups when raising princes.

If there is no competition from other princes, the prince will definitely become a waste; and once something happens to the prince, the prince who has been suppressed too much will not be able to stand up. In the end, the power of the Xiao family will fall to others.

However, Xiao Ge could allow the princes to compete, but he could not tolerate the princes not paying attention to him, the current emperor, when they were fighting for power.

Even after he clearly expressed his attitude on Zhao Zhiwei's matter, some people still tried to tamper with him. This contempt for Xiao Ge definitely touched his bottom line.

Not only would Zhang Li not have a good outcome, but Xiao Ge decided to suppress whoever was the instigator behind him.

…

In Uncle Suiping's Mansion, after Zhao Ruxi got the news and rushed to Beining, Mrs. Zhu went to the old lady's house and told the old lady about the matter, saying: "Did I do something wrong? Otherwise, why would Sister Xi be so anxious?

Getting angry?"

Although the old lady felt that her daughter-in-law had done the right thing, she felt that the two of them... no, Zhao Yuanxun's knowledge could not match that of Zhao Ruxi. Now that Zhao Ruxi hurriedly stopped Princess Shangde, it can be seen that what Zhu did was really wrong.

She simply sent someone to call Zhao Yuanxun, explained the matter, and said, "What do you think?"

After all, Zhao Yuanxun was out and about all day, and he knew the rules of the imperial examination better than the mother-in-law and daughter-in-law who stayed in the back house.

He shook his head and said: "Once the seventh one comes out, there is no way Sister Xi could be the head of the case. So even if Princess Shangde knew about it, she would not be able to change anything. Madam said this, which puts the princess in trouble. Sister Xi

I rushed to plead guilty. Even if I give the eldest princess a step down, I can make up for my wife's fault."

He said to Mrs. Zhu: "No matter what you do in the future, you still have to ask Sister Xi first."

When Zhao Yuanxun said this, Mrs. Zhu suddenly broke into a cold sweat and nodded repeatedly: "That's right, I was reckless."

She originally blamed Nanny Ruan for tipping off the news, and planned to reduce Nanny Ruan's rights after the matter was over. After hearing what her husband said, she not only did not blame Nanny Ruan, but also decided to give Nanny Ruan a big reward.

The old lady didn't want Zhu to blame himself too much, so she changed the subject and asked Zhao Yuanxun: "How did Brother An and Brother Xu do in the next two tests? Can they pass?"

Zhao Yuanxun shook his head: "Brother An was still a little bit off in the first game, but in the last two games he was ranked 150 or 60, completely hopeless. But Xu Chongwen was pretty good, in the second and third games, he was ranked 3rd.

There are more than ten people, and there is no problem in passing the county examination."

"Brother An's study time is short, and he reads alone at home. It's normal for his articles and poems to be unsatisfactory. When he goes to a family school and studies hard for a year, he will be fine next year." Zhao Yuanxun added.
Chapter completed!