/
Do you admit guilt?
Prior to this, Emperor Jiajing had evidently wanted to suppress the issue, so why all of a sudden had he incited a full investigation? This is definitely down to more than one person’s merit.
After the day that Yan Shifan and Yan Maoqing were plotting secretly in the study, Yan Song went into the palace to test medicine for Emperor Jiajing.
The so-called medicine he was testing was the immortality elixirs that the Daoists had made. Every so often they would develop a new one but the Emperor knew that these elixirs were unstable and that taking them could inevitably lead to problems, so he would ask his high-ranking officials to come and he’d give them the elixir and tell them to take it and report back any effects of the medicine. After confirming that none of them were poisoned, the Emperor would take it himself.
To be the Emperor’s test rat was not something that everyone could do.
Jiajing only ever gave the elixirs to the high-ranking officials that he trusted the most. For a long time, there was only Yan Song who was qualified to help the Emperor test the medicine, even Xu Jie had had to work very hard in order to win the Emperor’s trust to be bestowed this “great honour.” Not to mention that taking it might actually kill them.
If you were able to test the medicine for the Emperor, it meant you had gained Jiajing’s trust. So even though the officials knew that it was dangerous and it might even mean having the court historian adding an extra name to the records1, there were still officials falling over themselves wanting to help the Emperor test the elixirs.
On the day that Yan Song entered the palace, he saw that the Emperor was radiant with happiness. Perhaps it was that his meditation had been a success, or perhaps he had just taken the immortality elixir, in a word, he was in a good mood. The Emperor even took out an elixir, affably recommending it to Yan Song, saying that the latter was old so he should take more of it.
In his heart Yan Song was feeling aggrieved but on the outside he was showing a deeply grateful face. Taking advantage of Jiajing’s cheerful mood, he decided to chat to him about the latest happenings in the Capital. As he got to the part about the Metropolitan exam results, and how tens of thousands of people had come forth to see the results, praising the Emperor’s reign for creating a peaceful world and thus, allowing numerous talented people to come forth. At this moment, Jiajing was reminded of the leaked examination questions. At that time, he was busy meditating. It was a critical juncture in his practice so he had neither the time nor the mood to take care of the matter. But when Yan Song was talking about the examinations, he naturally remembered.
So he asked: “How was the issue with the examination questions being leaked dealt with? I heard that Gao Gong came up with new exam questions. Have the cheaters been arrested?”
Yan Song replied: “When the examination questions were found to be leaked, an investigation was held over a few days but nothing conclusive was found. Gao Gong is indeed brilliant for changing the exam questions, with this he was able to obliterate the conspiracy.”
Yan Song has been around for decades, and he was really no fool. On the surface, it seemed like he was reporting the results to the Emperor and praising Gao Gong’s swift actions, but he was actually laying the groundwork for an ambush.
Conspiracy.
Sure enough, Emperor Jiajing squinted slightly: “After the list was released, were there any suspicious names on the results? Don’t let a fish slip through the net, I don’t want to see these people who rely on dirty tricks to get ahead!”
This sentence was said harshly.
Yan Song hurriedly replied:
“This old official2 has also read a few of the papers and most of them are pretty good. Why don’t I pick a few of the top ones and show them to your Majesty?”
Jiajing nodded: “Ok.”
He presented the papers, Jiajing had just received them in his hands, when he heard Yan Song: “This old official has blurry eyes from age, I didn’t look at the order and just randomly picked up a few papers, please forgive me your Majesty.”
Jiajing didn’t mind, and just said ok, and picked up the one on the top of the pile, he skimmed through it: “This one is not bad, he’s called Zhao Su, hm… what rank did this one get?”
“In response to your Majesty, this one came 4th. Actually it’s quite coincidental that you mention Zhao Su. This old official has just been reminded of something.”
“Oh?”
“Does your Majesty remember that day when the little princely heir was lost for an evening?”
“Of course, I remember.”
It was after this incident that Jiajing had paid a little more to his only grandson. A royal heir, how could it be possible that he had been lost. The servants at the Prince of Yu Manor must all be useless dogs, to be able to lose their little master, luckily nothing serious had happened to him otherwise the result would have been worrisome.
But he really couldn’t unjustly blame the little princely heir. A child at this age cannot be wronged with being lively and restless, particularly one that was locked in the manor all day. It was like a bird being let out of a cage. Regarding Jiajing himself at this age, who knows what kind of trouble he had got up to back then.
Yan Song smiled and then continued: “The person who took the little princely heir home was this Zhao Su. After that, he and the Prince of Yu as well as the officials of the Prince of Yu manor developed a deep relationship, and now they have gone from friends to a Zuoshi-student relationship, isn’t this a heartwarming story?”
After hearing this Jiajing looked neither angry nor happy: “it is a good story, is there anything else?”
Yan Song was taken aback for a moment: “Why does your Majesty ask this?”
Jiajing said lightly: “Go investigate this Zhao Su, find out if the leak of the examination questions has anything to do with him?”
Yan Song was at a loss, as if he didn’t know what was going on: “Oh? Your Majesty, this…”
Seeing his white beard and hair, Jiajing said slowly: “Get the Embroidered Guard to investigate and then report the results directly back to me.”
“Yes.” Yan Song trembled and bowed his head, his facial expression was covered by his wide-arched sleeves.
Watching Yan Song leave, Jiajing said quietly: “If this matter is found to be related to the Prince of Yu, what should I do?”
He had actually said this to Huang Jin, instead of just talking to himself.
Seeing that Huang Jin didn’t say anything, Jiajing said: “Huang-ban why didn’t you speak?”
Huang Jin secretly grumbled to himself and only replied: “Nothing can be concealed from the Son of Heaven. Your Majesty already has an idea so there is no need for this servant to speak out of turn.”
His master looked like he didn’t care about anything, in reality aside from his search for immortality, he was usually looking through memorials, one after the other. He never left one out, an authoritative man, he had many plans, so after all these years, from Yang Tinghe to Zhang Cong, from Zhang Cong to Xia Yan, then from Xia Yan to Yan Song, all of these senior grand secretaries came and went, changing one after the other but the Emperor remained unchanged, cultivating his immortality, taking his elixirs, but no one had ever taken anything from him.
But if you often walk at night, you will eventually bump into a ghost3.
Huang Jin had served Jiajing for several decades, watching him fight with the high-ranking court officials, it seemed like he was the puppeteer playing with the others from above, but sometimes his suspiciousness and his need for authority became a weapon for others to use against him. The Emperor was smart but the others below had also become advanced old foxes4.
This situation involved the imperial examination, Xu Jie, and the Prince of Yu. Looking at the Emperor, it seemed like he had already become suspicious of his son, whatever Huang Jin said at this moment would surely be wrong, he could only stay silent.
Who knew that Jiajing would actually be extremely dissatisfied with his silence: “Don’t use these kinds of meaningless words, don’t you think I have heard enough of this crap everyday?”
Huang Jin slapped his own mouth, and said: “Your Majesty, please don’t get angry, it’s all this servant’s fault, you’ve just taken the elixir, the Daoist master said it is best to keep calm!”
Jiajing chuckled and glared at him: “You’re always trying to deceive me with your words!”
Seeing that the Emperor’s mood had improved, Huang Jin said: “This matter implicates many people. If this has something to do with Teacher Gao then why would he change the exam questions, and if it has nothing to do with him, then….”
This seemed too coincidental. The previous Chief Examining Officer was Yuan Wei. Yuan Wei had become seriously ill so Gao Gong had to step in. In the past few decades, there had never been a cheating scandal in the Capital. How come as soon as Gao Gong stepped up to the plate something like this happened?
Frankly speaking, the Prince of Yu was seriously lacking in funds and the Emperor was not particularly generous with his sons. Due to the lack of funds, if the Prince of Yu asked Gao Gong to leak the examination questions, but then the questions were completely changed and then the latter took total responsibility for the matter, this still didn’t add up. Especially since Gao Gong was actually recommended by Xu Jie to be the Chief Examining Officer, this issue really did make one’s imagination roam wild.
The son needed money, the father didn’t care, so the son decided to resolve the matter himself. But if the son wanted to use the Imperial Examinations as a ploy, he’d still be suspected of colluding with high-ranking court officials and this was an unforgivable matter in the eyes of Jiajing.
Presumably the Emperor had also thought of this before and that’s why he asked Yan Song to investigate. Huang Jin’s head was brimming with thoughts, trying to help the Emperor bear some of his worries.
Finally, he smiled and said: “In fact, the focal point in all of this is Zhao Su, if this person is indeed talented, his paper was not written in advance, and he didn’t find someone else to write it for him, it’s reasonable that he has won the favour of Teacher Gao and the others.”
Jiajing half-smiled, looking at him: “You are getting more and more crafty with age, thinking that neither side is guilty and trying to make me happy, is that right?”
Huang Jin smiled: “Even if this servant had the courage of ten thousand men, this servant would never dare to hide anything from your Majesty. This servant is just thinking, the people down there should concentrate on what they’re doing and not make trouble, then your Majesty can concentrate on achieving immortality without any worries!”
Jiajing nodded, and sighed: “There is only you who still has heart. My people out there, just think that I close my eyes and do not manage anything at all. It seems like I will still need to continue the investigation. Indeed the family of heaven has no father and son5.”
Huang Jin secretly continued to speculate in his mind, and hurriedly replied to comfort the Emperor.
The Embroidered Guards were indeed efficient, in less than two days they had already found something.
They found Zhao Su’s pageboy Zhao Rong. After questioning the boy, Zhao Rong had personally accused Zhao Su of receiving the exam questions in advance, but the situation was actually much worse.
It wasn’t something that a pageboy could understand, so Zhao Rong didn’t know how Zhao Su had got hold of the examination questions.
Jiajing was naturally furious and asked them to immediately arrest Zhao Su and find out the truth.
Thus, the Embroidered Guard came to the door and took Zhao Su away.
Yuan Shu watched all this happen, and for the first time realized that he was helpless to do anything.
This prison was not a place for ordinary people to stay long. Zhao Su experienced it when he came to visit Zhao Nuan last time.
He would never have imagined that before he had even got Zhao Nuan out, he himself had been thrown in.
Plus, his alleged crime was more serious than Zhao Nuan’s.
Zhao Nuan had made a big fuss at the government office entrance, scolding Yan Maoqing, but what he had said had not been taken too seriously, so he could actually be released at any time.
Plus, Liu Shouyou had promised to look after Zhao Nuan, so Zhao Su wasn’t too worried about this.
But his own case was not the same, if you colluded with an examiner and cheated, the lightest punishment would be caning and then to be kicked out the imperial examinations, never being allowed to return.
Zhao Su was inexplicably wronged and inexplicably imprisoned, he didn’t even know why Zhao Rong had accused him.
In the dimly lit cell, Zhao Su was sat on a long bench. Opposite him was a cold-faced Embroidered Guard. The latter was not a familiar face and he wore a blank facial expression.
There were shackles and torture instruments hung upon the walls and a faint smell of blood. If it had been someone else, perhaps they would have already been scared to death but Zhao Su still kept his calm, which inevitably made the person in charge of the investigation attach a bit more importance to him.
“Do you admit guilt?”