Chapter 909 998 Use a Plan

Wei Guangde didn't care much about what happened afterwards, and most of the decisions were made by Wang Xilie.

However, during the time they were locked up in the Imperial Academy, the outside world still had some criticism about the chief examiner and deputy chief examiner selected by the palace this time.

In the past, the palace decided on the examiners of the imperial examination, but there had never been such an omission.

In fact, the outside world had long speculated that Wei Guangde would serve as the chief examiner of the imperial examination, but they didn't expect Wang Xilie to become the deputy chief examiner.

When Tan Lun heard the news in the government office, he was also shocked.

In each round of the imperial examination, the chief examiners had the opportunity to accumulate merits and gather connections, but it was also a test.

Since the Jiajing period of the Ming Dynasty, each imperial examination has attracted nearly 10,000 candidates. This time, there are more than 8,000 applicants for the imperial examination. Although the number of admissions has not been determined, according to convention, it is usually 300 people. The difficulty can be imagined.

Those who can stand out from the imperial examination, if they are not talented, they are lucky, otherwise there is nothing else.

With so many people taking the exam, you can imagine how complicated it is, especially the verification of the candidates.

In fact, in addition to leaking questions and connections, impersonation is also a form of cheating in the imperial examination, but this method is generally difficult to detect when it comes to the joint examination.

Because there are so many people participating in the exam, even candidates who are familiar with each other from the same hometown can hardly determine whether the person in the examination room is the one they are familiar with.

After all, once you enter the examination room, you can't just walk around.

In short, the Ming Dynasty court has always adopted a zero-tolerance attitude towards cheating in the imperial examination, and the punishment for cheaters is also extremely severe. There have been no cases of cheating for some days.

Of course, the absence of cases does not mean that there is no cheating.

In fact, most of the real cheating in the imperial examination occurred in the academy examination and the provincial examination.

After all, in the countryside, the status of a scholar and a juren is still very popular.

Most people who get the status of a juren by cheating will not bet on the joint examination, but will rely on their family wealth to buy an official position in the Ministry of Personnel.

You know, the imperial examination is held in the capital, and any omissions will be reported to the emperor, and by then it will be too late.

Moreover, because the imperial examination is a national examination, the supervision system of the imperial examination is also very complete, and it is not as easy to get through as the college examination and the provincial examination.

Two days before the imperial examination, Wei Guangde and Wang Xilie called all the supervisors together to discuss the candidates.

"You are all Jinshi, so you should know the court's attitude towards cheating in the imperial examination.

Although Shandai has never presided over the imperial examination before, he has passed the examinations one level at a time like you, and has heard a lot about cheating in the examination room.

The importance of the joint examination is even greater than the final palace examination, and the candidates will not be removed, which also shows the trust of your majesty in you and me.

The national talent selection ceremony, I hope you will not take it lightly, especially the screening of candidates."

When Wei Guangde said this, he saw that everyone seemed to be hesitant to speak. In fact, he knew that there was no photography technology in the Ming Dynasty, and the local description of the candidates' appearance naturally brought many inconveniences.

It is impossible to ask the candidates' guarantors to identify people on the spot like in the academy examination and the provincial examination. They can only make simple screening based on the appearance of the candidates recorded by the Ministry of Rites and the seals they wrote. Naturally, the invigilators dare not pat their chests and say that they have sharp eyes and will not let the scoundrels get away.

The candidates lined up to be searched by soldiers and servants, and then took the documents from the Ministry of Rites from them.

But it was impossible to let thousands of people into the examination room in such a short time. Even if there was a little suspicion, it would not ruin the candidates' future.

After all, there was no way to identify the candidates in such a short time.

So even if there was suspicion, people had to be allowed in, unless the candidates with very different appearances and statures would not be stopped outside the examination room.

Cheaters would not be stupid enough to randomly find someone to take the exam for them, and would naturally choose people with similar stature and appearance to themselves.

"Today, I asked you all to come here to say one thing. If you have any doubts about the candidates, please send them directly to me. Zizhong, I and other examiners will identify them again."

Wei Guangde took the responsibility of identifying the candidates' identities on himself, and he, Wang Xilie, and other inspectors would do the identification together.

This kind of thing happens every time there is a joint examination. Among the thousands of candidates, there will always be dozens or hundreds of candidates whose actual appearance is different from the records. Excluding the young candidates who are growing up, it is actually easier to distinguish.

"Wei Gelao, in addition to taking the exam for someone else, I heard that there are candidates who collude to cheat."

An invigilator said.

"That is the matter of the examiners and the yamen runners. When the time comes, everyone should walk around the examination rooms more often. Not only should you pay attention to the candidates, but also pay attention to whether the yamen runners in each room have unusual behavior. Once found, they will be replaced directly."

Wei Guangde said.

Candidates collude to cheat. Generally, candidates with poor grades will bribe people in the Imperial Academy with a large sum of money to help them pass the test papers.

People with outstanding literary talent, either because of money or family background, write the test papers for them.

The most outstanding example of this cheating method is the joint examination in the 44th year of Wanli, when Shen Tonghe, a candidate from Wujiang, Nanzhili, colluded with his son-in-law Zhao Mingyang to cheat.

This case used this method. Shen Tonghe bribed the invigilator to arrange for him and Zhao Mingyang to sit in adjacent or nearby examination rooms, and Zhao Mingyang would answer the questions and pass them to other places.

With this method, Shen Tonghe and Zhao Mingyang successfully passed the college and provincial examinations. It was not until the joint examination that the truth was revealed because Zhao Mingyang's gun was too outstanding and he was directly selected as a member of the examination.

When the examination results were released, some students from Wujiang gathered in front of the results and saw that Shen Tonghe, a candidate from Wujiang, was ranked first in the high school. They were immediately furious.

What's more, they grabbed a handful of mud on the spot and covered up Shen Tonghe's name on the list. Then everyone went to the Yamen in a fuss and demanded justice from the court.

Southern Zhili is a large area, and although not all the candidates are familiar with each other, how could the local candidates in Wujiang not know who Shen Tonghe is.

Shen Tonghe, a man who usually has no knowledge and skills, idles around and does evil outside every day because of his father who is an official. But such a man actually passed the provincial examination and now he has passed the general examination and received a Huiyuan. This group of poor people studied hard It would be strange for candidates who have been taking exams for more than ten years not to be angry.

When the matter got serious, the imperial court held a special examination for Shen Tonghe. As expected, the mud could not hold up the wall, and he was exposed on the spot.

When they arrived in the capital, major cases such as imperial examination fraud naturally reached the ears of Emperor Wanli, who asked the Jin Yiwei to examine the case, and the truth soon came to light.

Shen Tonghe was also very hard-working. In order to get Zhao Mingyang to do this for him, he actually became a daughter-in-law with Zhao Mingyang and married his daughter to Zhao Mingyang. Only then did he get Zhao Mingyang's consent.

It's just that he underestimated Zhao Mingyang's strength and actually won the first place in the competition.

Well, this is not Zhao Mingyang’s highlight moment. He won the membership title for Shen Tonghe’s article, and his own article also ranked sixth on the examination list.

If he wasn't extremely talented, he would never have achieved such results.

But then again, this may be Skynet Huihui.

Wei Guangde came from a later generation, so he had naturally heard about this. At the time, he thought it was amazing, it was really amazing.

If they had been a little more stable and not so provocative, they would have become officials together.

After this incident was reported, Shilin was in an uproar. Who would dare to think of such a thing?

However, the final conclusion of the case made people feel both resentful and sad. "The justice department discussed the crime, Tonghe dispatched the garrison, and Zhao Mingyang was punished with a stick and dismissed."

Wei Guangde knew that there was such a thing, so he didn't dare to take it lightly.

Screening and inspection are both important and cannot be relaxed.

When Wei Guangde was getting busy because the exam period was approaching, in a dense forest about 30 miles north of Changdian Fort in Liaodong, a figure hurriedly came outside a few hastily built tents.

When the person arrived outside the tent, he broke into the tent without waiting for the person on duty to ask questions, and shouted inside: "Manzhu, I have thought of a way."

Wang Gao was drinking wine in the tent at this time. He had been here for two days, but after thinking hard, he couldn't think of a way to deal with the Ming army's camp.

The defense is really too tight, and if we rush to attack with troops, we are afraid that we will suffer heavy losses.

Just when he had a headache and could only drown his sorrows with wine, Lai Lihong barged in and shouted that he had come up with a solution. He didn't have time to clean it up before he got up in a hurry. The wine table in front of him was almost overturned, but there was a wine bottle on the table. The wine glass still fell to the floor, and he didn't care that the wine wet the blanket.

"If you think of any solution, tell me quickly."

When Li Hong came up, Wang Gao asked impatiently.

"Create something out of nothing and catch the thief and the king."

Lai Lihong didn't show off, and directly told him the solution he thought of.

"Why create something out of nothing? I can understand the idea of ​​capturing the thief and capturing the king. You mean killing the opponent's general."

Wang Gao's men have killed many famous generals, so he doesn't think that killing famous generals is a big deal.

Moreover, once the Ming army generals are killed, the Ming army camp will naturally be in chaos. He can take advantage of the situation and defeat the Ming army camp at the minimum cost.

Although after this battle, it was no longer difficult for him to maintain relations with the Ming Dynasty, but the Ming Dynasty had built all the castles and towns under his nose, so he had to directly say that it was against him, so there was nothing to worry about.

Although I don't know the situation of the Ming army's camp, according to Kohler's investigation and his observations, there are at least several thousand people in the Ming army's camp.

Even if he gathers a large army to come here, the strength comparison between the two sides is only 50-50.

If he wants to defeat his opponent easily, he can only use tactics, otherwise the price will be too high for him to bear.

"We sent people to pretend to surrender."

Lai Lihong said bluntly: "Let's just say that Manzhu brought people to investigate the situation of the Ming army. They were afraid of the might of the Ming Dynasty and worried that they would lose their lives in vain, so they chose to surrender to the Ming Dynasty.

At that time, it was only said that Manzhu only had dozens of guards with him. The general must have thought there was an opportunity and would bring hundreds of people to encircle and suppress him.

Manzhu only needs to line up his troops, prepare his pockets, and wait for the general to arrive and capture him in one fell swoop.

Without the general, the Ming army's camp will be in chaos, but our army can take advantage of the situation to attack and win a complete victory. "

Lai Lihong told him the strategy he had thought of after reading "The Romance of the Three Kingdoms" over the past two days. This was a serial strategy, and he was quite proud at this time.

Among the entire Jurchen tribe, there are a few who are as resourceful and brave as him.

There should be no more. When he comes to Lihong, he is the Jurchen's number one Batulu and think tank.

"Okay, this is a good plan."

After hearing Lai Lihong's plan, Wang Gao was overjoyed.

I calculated in my mind that the time for the arrival of my troops should be within the next two days.

Wait for the troops to arrive and let them rest for a day before using tactics against the Ming army.

"Come, sit down, let's drink and celebrate, haha"

Wang Gao had already decided to use Lailihong's strategy. He turned around and saw the wine jug on the ground. He immediately shouted to the guards outside the tent: "Bring me more wine and roast the best lamb."

The guard outside agreed and quickly brought drinks, only saying that the mutton would be waiting for a while and was being roasted.

"Manzhu, the people you send out must be shrewd. Otherwise, it will be difficult to achieve the external purpose, and it will be easy for people to see through. That would be bad."

Lai Lihong sat opposite Wang Gao and said.

When Wang Gao heard this, he frowned slightly and asked, "Do you have anyone to choose?"

"This person must be one of Man Zhu's personal guards. Only then will they know that Man Zhu's habits are not easily seen through."

Lai Lihong explained in a low voice.

This is to ask Wang Gao to find people among the people close to him.

Wang Gao nodded, "It's a very important matter, I have to think about it carefully, by the way."

At this moment, Wang Gao suddenly thought of a question and couldn't help but ask: "What if the famous general knows about it and doesn't come himself, but sends his men to fight?"

"No, Man Zhu is here, no one would miss this opportunity."

Lai Lihong seemed to have thought of a countermeasure a long time ago. When Wang Gao raised this possibility, he immediately responded.

"That's right, although we didn't break up with the Ming Army, the relationship is just like that.

The people of Ming Dynasty will not miss this opportunity to catch me. To those generals of Ming Dynasty, I am their great contribution. Who among them can give up this overwhelming wealth, haha."

Wang Gao's doubts disappeared at this time and he laughed loudly.

In the Ming army camp more than thirty miles away, Pei Chengzu, who was guerrilla fighting at Fushun Pass, did not notice anything strange at all.

Every day he would ask the people who were out to scout, and he gradually relaxed after knowing that there was no human trace within thirty miles.

At first, he was somewhat resistant to being ordered to lead a team to garrison troops in Changdian and Yongdian to protect the civilian workers and craftsmen working here.

Who doesn't know that this place has always been the hunting ground of Jianzhou Jurchens. If the border wall is moved north here rashly, war will inevitably break out.

This was also the reason why he had always been cautious, lest he be attacked by Wang Gaobu.

However, he also knew that this was just a hunting ground for Wang Gao's tribe, and the guerrilla Wang Weiping's troops were stationed near the Shichakou of Kuandian. That was where Wang Gao was most nervous, because Wang Gao's tribe had gone south several times to plunder. .

It can be said that Shichakou blocked Wang Gao's passage south. Logically speaking, if Wang Gao's tribe wanted to take action against the Ming army, Wang Weiping's tribe at Shichakou would be the most likely place to encounter a sneak attack.

This is why Li Chengliang appointed Deputy General Yang Teng to garrison Dengliangtun with an army from the beginning to defend against possible offensives by the Mongolian army, while he quietly set off from Shenyang and arrived at Xianshan Fort.

However, he also heard the analysis of the General Soldier, that is, at this stage, Wang Gao's troops may not take immediate action, but will wait until the fort is nearly halfway built before launching an attack to destroy the completed fort and side walls. This will have a greater impact on the Ming army.

But even so, he still adopted a cautious attitude. He did not want to be the first general to die in this war. (End of chapter)