Ming Dynasty Detective 1546

Chapter 23 County Examination
"Were the escaped Zheng Wu and the other two Annanites killed? And their bodies dumped at the gate of the government office?"

Hai Yue's expression grew serious. "This matter is of great importance. By the way, how did you find... Na Ying's relatives?"

Long Ge'er explained: "At first, we asked among the Han people, and they all said they didn't recognize him. It wasn't until the coroner performed an autopsy and discovered a unique tattoo on the body that we realized this person might be a Li people!"

"I see!"

Tattooing is a custom among the Li people. Women will tattoo their faces, legs, and ankles with their own hands. "They hold the needle and pen towards the skin, and the tattoos are clear and very fine." Men have relatively fewer tattoos, and the parts of their bodies that they get are often covered by clothes.

After the prince's stand-in was killed, Mo Zhengyong stopped the autopsy on the grounds that the body should not be desecrated. He only allowed the coroner to look with his own eyes and was not allowed to take off his clothes, so of course he could not find the tattoo.

The next time they went to get the evidence, they were in a hurry to lure the tiger away from the mountain, and they were only concerned with finding the wounds on the body.

It was not until the truth came to light that the coroner conducted a careful re-examination and discovered a tattoo that was suspected to be of the Li ethnic group.

With this feature, Bage sent people to Yazhou again, specifically looking for the Li people, and finally learned the identity of the deceased.

After learning this, Hai Yue said in a deep voice, "Zheng Wu and the other two were able to escape from the encirclement of the fast-paced capturers. Their coordination cannot be underestimated. Their bodies were dumped in front of the government office. Can we be sure that this was a deliberate revenge by the Li people?"

Yao Ge'er said, "Not only are there three bloody corpses, but there's also a terrifying pattern drawn on the ground with blood. It looks like the totem of the Li people! Besides, in Qiongzhou, apart from those Li people who have been rebelling so many times, who else would dare to challenge the government office like this?"

"If this is the case, I'm afraid there will be another conflict!"

Haiyue sighed softly.

On Hainan Island, conflicts between the Li people and the Han court have always existed. Not to mention other dynasties, from the sixth year of Hongwu to the fourteenth year of Chongzhen in the Ming Dynasty, the Li people launched more than thirty uprisings, fourteen of which were large-scale.

The most recent one was in the 1501th year of Hongzhi, that is, in AD, when the Fu Nanshe Uprising broke out in Hainan. The people of the three prefectures and ten counties under the jurisdiction of Qiongzhou Prefecture rose up in rebellion and successively besieged Danzhou, Changhua, Lingao and other places.

The Ming court initially sent 20,000 troops to suppress the uprising, but they were defeated by Fu Nanshe, which made the uprising more powerful. Its maximum strength even reached 100,000. Later, the court dispatched 150,000 troops, and it took four months to finally suppress the uprising.

Twenty years later in history, a larger-scale Li uprising broke out on Hainan Island, which Guangdong Province was unable to cope with. In the end, it mobilized generals such as Yu Dayou to lead troops south to quell it.

It was the Yan Uprising.

These rebellions naturally had a strong impact on Qiongshan, so Hai Rui in history spent the first half of his life studying how to resolve the Li rebellion.

He personally traveled through mountains and rivers to investigate the tribes where the Shengli people lived, and even entered the Five Finger Mountain to collect first-hand information. When he took part in the provincial examination, he wrote a "Plan for Governing the Li People". Later, when he went to the capital to take part in the metropolitan examination, he presented "Plan for Subduing the Li People", "Illustrated Explanation of Subduing the Li People", and "Seven Proposals to the Ministry of War", all of which were strategies for resolving local people's livelihood conflicts. He even dared to issue a military order for this purpose, "If it fails, I will accept the punishment."

Later investigations found that many of these strategies coincided with those used by generals such as Yu Dayou in suppressing the Na Yan Uprising. It is not known whether they were used for mutual reference or whether they simply thought alike.

It is a pity that the court did not accept the hard work of Hai Rui in the first half of his life.

It was not until the Guangxu period of the Qing Dynasty that General Feng Zicai implemented Hai Rui's suggestions and countermeasures, which greatly resolved the ethnic conflicts and war confrontations between the Han and Li peoples. "Hai Rui in front, Feng Gong in the back; Tongdao County was established, and the ambition was to continue Gangfeng."

Haiyue understands the original historical process, which is why she hopes her younger brother will become successful as soon as possible.

Why wait for more than three hundred years for future generations to put your ideas into practice? Can't you do it yourself?
Besides, it’s not just Hainan, it can change many more places!

Of course, that's too far to talk about now. Long Ge'er came to report the news because he was worried about the Li people's reckless revenge: "Yue Ge'er, this case is ultimately related to you. Now everyone outside is talking about your reputation as a detective. Of course, the Li people have heard about it too. Be careful, what if they get angry and take their anger out on you..."

"Every wrong has its perpetrator, and every debt has its creditor. The Li people are not unreasonable, they are also oppressed..."

Haiyue didn't have a bad impression of the Li people, but she didn't have any wishful thinking either. She nodded and said, "I'll take note. I'll be on guard!"

After seeing this person off, Haiyue returned to her desk and reviewed her lessons with even greater concentration.

After this experience, he no longer wanted to be a helpless commoner.

first step.

Focus on preparing for the exam and win the county exam! ...

Compared with the main examination held every three years, the county examination is a preliminary examination, but it is still a grand event for local prefectures and counties.

Even Qiongzhou Prefecture, the political hub of Hainan Island, is no exception.

On this day, outside Dongpo Academy, more than 300 students who were taking the imperial examinations gathered, along with their relatives and friends who came to encourage them. It was such a huge crowd that the entire street was blocked.

The Hai brothers were among them. Not only the eldest brother, the second brother, the third brother, and the fourth brother were all present, but even the fifth brother who was culturally isolated and the seventh brother who was slightly disabled were there. The eighth, ninth, and tenth brothers were almost there as well.

"Thirteenth brother! Fourteenth brother! With your knowledge, the county exam is a piece of cake. It all depends on whether you can get first place!"

"One day I will win the first three prizes and spread the prestige of the Qiongshan Hai family! Haha!"

With the earnest encouragement of their brothers, Hai Yue and Hai Rui underwent a simple body search, each carrying an examination basket, and disappeared at the dragon gate.

This was the academy they had attended before, so the two of them were familiar with the place. They sat down at their seats, took out the examination certificates, school cards, study supplies, food, etc. from the examination basket, and started to look at the answer sheets.

It was a thick stack, with the cover at the top. Inscribed on it was "County Examination No. 73, Haiyue. Seventeen years old, of substantial build, good looks. Civilian. Great-grandfather Fu, grandfather Kuan, father Hao. Guarantors Liang Jing, Wu Xun, Fu Yuan..."

Open the cover, and there is a sheet of paper for answering the questions on the back. There are red horizontal and vertical lines, twelve vertical lines on each page, and twenty character spaces on each line. Two sheets of plain paper are also given as drafts.

There are standards for answering questions. Candidates are not allowed to write answers outside the sealed lines. Violators will be directly deemed as failed. Even drafts are not allowed to be written randomly.

Haiyue checked carefully and confirmed that there was no problem.

Don't underestimate these steps. Qionshan County is the provincial capital after all, so it's relatively okay. Remote small counties sometimes just muddle through. If the candidates don't check carefully and there are problems with the answer sheets, their scores will be invalid in the end, and they will have no place to cry.

However, this type of examination is not as strict as the regular examination. In most places, the names of the candidates are not covered, and there are no clerks to copy the test papers. This makes it possible for some personal connections to be involved.

In some provinces with rich cultural heritage, the competition is particularly fierce, because there will be many talented people vying for the "top ten in the county", especially the "first in the county".

The honor of being the first in the county is that as long as you don’t make any serious mistakes, you don’t have to take the imperial examination all the way to the academy, and you can directly “enter school” and obtain the title of scholar.

That is, you only have to take the first exam and you are exempt from the next two.

Of course, if you want to compete for the top three, that is, the county examination, prefectural examination, and academy examination, and you want to be first in each one, you can choose to participate in the last two.

The honor for being in the top ten in the county is that when taking the provincial examination, they will be given a seat in the imperial court, which means they will be specially arranged to take the examination in a more honorable position, so that they can become famous in the local area.

Haiyue doesn't have any eagerness to be at the top of the list, but she won't belittle herself and think that she will never be able to do it.

Admittedly, with the original body's knowledge and the knowledge of later generations, it seems a bit difficult to compete with the poor students of today who have studied hard for ten years.

But I have been preparing for the exam diligently over the past year and have developed special test-taking methods, so compared to that, my results are not necessarily that bad.

With a good attitude, he waited patiently until all the candidates were seated and the test papers were distributed.

"call!"

Although it seemed like this was her first time taking the imperial examination, Haiyue was actually an experienced person. She was not nervous at all, especially after she actually saw the question. She quickly went through hundreds of model essays in her mind and instantly had something to learn from. A confident smile suddenly appeared on the corner of her mouth.

Pick up the pen calmly.

Start answering questions.

(End of this chapter)