"Remember it, my original maiden name... Yuan Zhiqian."

~~

"Mr. Lang."

As soon as Yuan Zhiyuan saw Du Wulang, he knelt down and thanked him, and Du Wulang quickly helped him up.

"Let me tell you, you are not yet a junior student in the county school. Because you were born as a slave, many people will suspect you of cheating. You will have a harder time than all the students in your class. You have to prove yourself time and time again.

So, if you don’t have real talent or are afraid, I will admit my defeat now and let others say that I manipulated the imperial examination..."

"I'm not afraid!"

Of course Du Wulang was provoking him, and Yuan Zhiyuan immediately expressed his position before he could finish hearing it.

"Since Mr. Lang trusts me, I will never embarrass Mr. Lang! I work harder than all the children of the Cui family. True gold is not afraid of fire."

"That's good." Du Wulang said: "You only need to study and take exams, and don't worry about the gossip. When you prove your true talents to the world, that's when you will truly become Yuan Zhiyuan."

It would be a very simple matter for Du Wulang to restore Yuan Zhiyuan's status as a husband, but obviously, he would have to do more than that.

He deliberately asked Yuan Zhiyuan to take the exam as a slave, and he was a bait, just waiting for the fish to take the bait.

Sure enough, on the day the results were released, Yuan Zhiyuan's success aroused the dissatisfaction of many scholars, claiming that the county examination was unfair.

Although anyone who cares can see that it is not necessary to get a quota for a county student. Moreover, there have been many injustices in the past years, and there are not many people making trouble.

But the usual injustice is that the rich and powerful get the benefits, and the poor people have to endure the injustice. This time is different. This time, a lowly slave takes the place of the rich and powerful. It is against Tiangang. If it is not stopped in time, it will be punished in the future.

Remarkable?

The Cui family actually wanted to settle the matter, but someone behind the scenes was fanning the flames and making the matter bigger.

Therefore, the county office first came forward to investigate the county examination fraud case, but found nothing. After this investigation, the matter reached Luoyang Prefecture.

The trouble reached Luoyang Mansion, and soon everyone knew that Du Wulang bought the slave from the Cui family.

In the past, Du Wulang was one of the "Five Sons of Spring" who upheld justice for the imperial examination, but this time he was dismissed as the mastermind behind the manipulation of the imperial examination.

Luoyang Prefecture had no choice but to conduct a retest and took Yuan Zhiyuan's exam again.

But at this point, no matter what the result of the re-examination is, it can no longer calm the situation. On the contrary, every time the investigation is conducted, the theories of conspiracy behind it will become more and more popular.

Some people even say that today, in order to save Du Wulang's face, he secretly issued an edict to the Luoyang Mansion to admit that the slave was really talented.

Some people even said that the emperor was manipulating this in order to slap the face of the wealthy family.

Amid such turmoil, few people mentioned the children's examination. Among the successful candidates in various counties across the country, there were a large number of children from poor families.

Compared with the "no talented people left in the wild" in the sixth year of Tianbao, this introductory examination of the imperial examination seemed to be a deliberate search for talented people left in the wild, but people's eyes were attracted by the most ridiculous thing.

Finally, the matter came to the forefront.

During the court meeting, Xue Bai seemed to have heard about this for the first time and said: "Is there such a thing? Go and summon Du Li, and I will ask him personally."

All the officials knew it well, but they could only accompany the performance.

When Du Wulang arrived, Xue Bai immediately scolded with a straight face: "I heard that you manipulated the child test in Shouan County for a slave. Is this true?!"

"Your Majesty, I would never dare to do this." Du Wulang then told how he met Yuan Zhiyuan at Cui's house, and added: "I just helped him because I cherished my talent. As for manipulating the county examination, I

Why take such a big risk for a slave you just met?"

After hearing this, a censor couldn't help but said: "Your Majesty, I have heard that Du Qi loves that slave very much, so that's why."

"Are you slandering me?" Du Wulang turned around and asked.

Then, he immediately realized that he had been rude, turned around honestly, and replied: "Your Majesty, he ruined my reputation. I don't care about this in advance. If I want to support Yuan Zhiyuan, I will most likely find a way to arrange a future for him. Why bother to let him go?" He took the imperial examination? Of course he took it because he was talented and learned, so why did I manipulate the county examination?"

At this point, Cui Youfu, the censor Zhongcheng, could only stand up.

He first reprimanded the censor who had just spoken rudely, and would inevitably have to apologize later. Then he elaborated on his views.

Cui Youfu is the person who knows the ins and outs best and is also very familiar with the Cui family.

"According to what I said, Yuan Zhiyuan comes from the Cui family in Shouan. It is not surprising that he passed the county examination. He must have studied under Zhao Hua, a Jinshi in the 23rd year of Kaiyuan..."

With these words, the tone of the matter in the court could be set.

Yuan Zhiyuan definitely did not commit fraud, but he and Du Wulang were criticized so much that all the officials inexplicably came to stand against the emperor.

Sure enough, the emperor on the imperial couch snorted in displeasure and said: "This trivial matter of catching wind and shadow has made a big fuss."

"I am guilty."

Many officials from the Ministry of Rites and Luoyang Prefecture had no choice but to plead guilty.

But a group of officials have realized something is wrong.

These people were all from noble backgrounds, and most of them entered the officialdom through their backgrounds. They felt humiliated by having their bodies searched during the imperial examinations, and they simply could not bear the thought of more lowly people entering the officialdom in the future and sitting alongside them in the imperial court. superior.

What they protested from the beginning was not that Du Wulang manipulated the imperial examinations, but that slaves with low status should not participate in the imperial examinations. But things happened so fast that the results of the county examinations were not released until the results were released, and the trouble immediately reached the imperial court, and they had not even reacted.

How can they have time to keep an eye on the child test results in so many counties?

At this time, it seems that the emperor deliberately guided and directed public opinion to attack Du Wulang.

"I believe that the uproar in the Shou'an County Examination is not due to Du Qi, but to Ji Ji..."

"That's enough!"

"Your Majesty, the law of the Tang Dynasty strictly prohibits robbing a good person and turning him into a lowly person. If a lowly person is the family member of a criminal or a prisoner of an enemy country, it is necessary to sell oneself to atone for one's sins. Is there any reason to expel one's citizenship just because one can pass the county examination?"

"Because they read the books of sages and sages, they should know how to be loyal to the Tang Dynasty, unlike some people who tell lies with open eyes. If there are really no people who 'rob the good and despise the poor', where are all the disappeared household registrations in the world?!"

Following these words, many officials in the palace who were about to speak opened their mouths and quickly closed them again.

They felt that the emperor was well prepared. If the argument continued, the topic would be brought to the issue of escaping from the household. This was something that should not be brought up in court.

There is no point in arguing with the emperor. Long Yan will be angered and another edict will be issued to abolish slavery, or to ask large families to pay a population tax for slaves, and things will be in trouble.

For a moment, everyone was silent.

Xue Bai didn't wait for the opportunity to stir up trouble. He waved his hand and said, "I'm tired."

~~

Shou'an County Department.

Zong Han looked at the official document in front of him, frowned slightly, and then quickly unfolded it.

"Now that Yuan Zhiyuan has become a student member of the county school and the court has new policies, the county office will compensate his master, Wu Lang, at the market price."

"No, no need." Du Wulang waved his hand, "I don't need to compensate."

"It has to be supplemented." Zong Han said: "Otherwise, there will be no masters willing to let slaves take the county examination in the future, and there will be fewer talents who can read the books of sages. This is the imperial court's compassion for all people, Wu Lang has to accept it.

.”

What he said was sincere, but Du Wulang could smell a bit of yin and yang in it.

Zong Han took out an arithmetic chip, made some calculations, and said: "Yuan Zhiyuan's family of three will supply Wu Lang with sixty-three stones of grain according to the market price, okay? As for the extra money, Wu Lang has to pay for it himself."

"Okay, as many as you want."

"Then the official will now give them the documents to transform them from lowly to good, and then they will be Ding households in Shouan County again."

"It's time for the clan leader to register."

"Don't dare. It's an honor for me to serve Wu Lang."

After the two of them finished the matter amicably, Du Wulang left with the three members of the Yuan family.

Zong Han watched the group of people leave carrying more than sixty stones of grain, frowning slightly, and fell into deep thought.

"Master, it's too much to allocate so much grain at once." A clerk said, "If someone wins a lowly status, the county will have to redeem his family, and the burden on the county will be too great.

"

"Idiot, how many slaves can pass the child exam?"

Zong Han scolded the little official and said to himself: "There won't be one in a year. They just play the role of 'buying horse bones for a thousand gold' without even spending a thousand gold."

He knew that this was a very unlikely event, so the opposition from the DPRK and China was not huge.

The problem still lies with Du Wulang. With Du Wulang watching over him, Yuan Zhiyuan and his family have returned to his hometown and settled down. Should they divide the 100 acres of land?

The fields have been divided, and when spring comes, do I need a spring seedling loan?

It would be fine to say that Du Wulang only focused on Yuan Zhiyuan's family, but the emperor was lucky to be in the east, and Shou'an County has become the place where the emperor is at his feet. Now that the wind of restructuring is blowing harder and harder, it will hit here first.

"Master, the county magistrate calls you over."

"For what?"

Then a minor official came to Zong Han's ear and whispered: "Someone in the county wants to borrow all the spring seedling loans next year. The county magistrate cannot afford to offend. I want to ask how your relationship with Du Wulang is..."

~~

"Okay, you will all be good citizens from now on."

Over there, Du Wulang patted the sack full of grain and said to Old Yuan Tou: "You can let Zhiyuan prepare for the exam at the county school and prepare for the next exam. With this grain this winter, when the fields are divided, next year

You can farm by yourself..."
Chapter completed!