This Du Ting Song is not too stupid. Fortunately, the Du family has more than one son, and Du Shang Shu knows how to make the choice.
There were sighs of relief from both inside and outside the hall, the outcome of the case was now known, but it wasn't too bad after all.
At this point, all that was left was for Ren Anle to pronounce her sentence.
"Du Tingsong, you claim to be ashamed of the Emperor's grace, your teacher, and your parents ...then what about your comrade and the common people of the Great Jing?"
"This official ask you, if this matter had not been uncovered and you had won the top three in the imperial examination, who would the exam candidates who were defeated because of your cheating have turned to for justice when they have had a difficult life? If the heart is not right, the person is not right. How can you serve as an official and benefit the people?"
Du Tingsong looked dazed, with ashamed expression on his face. Before he could answer, Ren Anle already looked at Gu Qishan who was at the side.
"Gu Qishan, you just questioned me about the cheating in the imperial examination, which is a mere mistake. How can this official punish you, the di son of the marquis?"
Ren Anle rose and looked at the two people in the hall who were waiting to be convicted, her gaze burning, "The imperial examination is a fundamental part of the selection of talent in Great Jing. If the imperial examination is in disarray, the country's foundation will also be in disarray. It is absurd for you to say that this is a mere trivial matter. Do you think this court is the back garden of the Marquis of Zhongyi?"
"Our students have studied hard for ten years to get the opportunity to sit for the imperial examination, why do you treat it as if it is nothing? I'll tell you what the Imperial Examination of Dajing is!"
Ren Anle's eyes darted across the hall, from the right minister to the officials of the Da Lisi, with a solemn expression.
"Twenty years ago, when the Dajing dynasty was established, the country selected talents. Although Wei Jian, the Right minister, was a great scholar, he still took the examination at the age of thirty in order to appease the people's heart, and was the first top scorer in the imperial examination of the Dajing dynasty."
"Song Jingzhao, a cabinet scholar, went through three examinations, tasted the hardships of poverty, and spent ten years of hardwork before he reached the third rank in the imperial examination. His strength of character was respected by the world."
"The late Crown Prince tutor Ning Chuyu filled the world with peach and plum, and was at the top of the list in the four years of Taizu."
"Without the imperial examination system to select the best candidates, how could we have had decades of peace in Great Jing? Gu Qishan, the imperial examination is more important to the people of Dajing than the sky. So what if you are the di son of the marquis? Are you more important than the sky!"
"How do you know that the students entering the imperial examination are not full of ambition, that they may have aspirations for the world, or that they may have a heart of gold. You have disrupted our Great Jing's laws and discipline of imperial court, let alone being innocent!"
Gu Qishan was so shocked by Ren Anle's loftiness that he fell to the ground, his face pale beyond words.
"Even for the officials of the Da Lisi, who have painstakingly studied hard for several years before they were given their official robes. If they had not been deeply affected by it, why would they have risked their careers for the truth of a case to give justice to the exam candidates!"