Ming Dynasty Detective 1546

Chapter 25 Celebration and Request for Help

"Fourteenth brother? Fourteenth brother? Have you gone to bed?"

"elder brother……"

"Oh! This is really not going to bed!"

"Brother, just sleep next to me..."

Haiyue lay on the bed, eyes wide open, tossing and turning.

Tomorrow is the time to announce the county exam results, and I suddenly can’t sleep.

This is only the first imperial examination. The key point is that he was not nervous during the exam. Why is he not calm now when the results are announced?
Fortunately, Hai Rui was also awake. With his hands under his head, he began chatting: "The bodies of those three Annan thieves were dumped at the gate of the government office, and nothing was done about it?"

"It's hard to respond to such a provocation!"

Hai Yue asked, "If we conduct a thorough investigation and find out that the Li people are responsible for avenging Na Ying, how will we deal with them? Could it be that they are just a few evil thieves from outside the region, causing unrest in the region?"

Hai Rui's voice dropped, "Failure to supervise leads to a lack of trust, which is also the source of disaster and chaos."

"There's nothing I can do..."

Haiyue has no ill feelings towards the Li people. These ethnic minorities have revolted one after another on Hainan Island, entirely in rebellion against tyranny and oppression.

I won’t talk about the past, but the huge uprising that happened twenty years later in history was caused by an official named Huang Benjing, who ordered the Li villages under his jurisdiction to pay in-kind taxes. Each Li household had to hand over a chicken, a bowl of salt and five liters of grain. Later, he also set his sights on the cattle of these tribes.

The Li people could no longer tolerate this and drove away the tax collectors. However, Huang Benjing was not giving up and took advantage of the situation to seal off the village's granary.

So they completely forced the Li tribe to rebel, first killing the cruel officials and then attacking the county town.

The county town fell quickly, and people from all over the place came to join in after hearing about it. The scale of the uprising grew bigger and bigger. Not only the Li people, but also many local Han people in Hainan participated.

God is angry and the people are resentful. Officials are forcing the people to rebel. If the court does nothing, don't blame the people for rebelling. Even though Haiyue is now officially taking the imperial examination, he still has this idea.

Of course, on the other hand, war cannot solve the problem. It will only make the situation of the Li people worse. At the same time, the war will also destroy the living environment of the Han people. This is a lose-lose situation.

So after each uprising, local officials began to appease the people until the scars healed and the pain was forgotten.

"The local government's attitude towards the Li people is quite contradictory, oppressing them on one hand and compromising on the other."

"They were ruthless in their exploitation, and when the government really needed to establish its authority, they chose to turn a blind eye out of concern for the bravery of the Li people. The prefect was clearly unwilling to start a war."

Haiyue used two short sentences to clearly describe the current situation.

Hai Rui sighed, his voice filled with confusion. "If this continues, the Fu Nan Snake Rebellion will probably happen again. The people must be governed and properly resettled. Only then can Qionghai achieve peace..."

Hai Yue took the opportunity to say, "Then you must pass the imperial examination and enter the cabinet in the future. Become a minister with more real power than Mr. Qiongtai. Only then will the court really put in the effort to punish Li Anli!"

Mr. Qiu Jun of Qiongtai was indeed Hai Rui's idol. Not only were they from the same hometown, but they also had similar experiences of losing their fathers in childhood. So much so that in the TV series Ming Dynasty, in the scene where Jiajing debated with Hai Rui before his death, Qiu Jun was specifically mentioned, and it was said that Hai Rui learned Qiu Jun's straightforwardness.

But in fact, what Hai Rui learned was not only straightforwardness, but also the pragmatism in Qiu Jun's academic philosophy.

After hearing this, Hai Rui's eyes became firm.

Although he originally lived in poverty, he did not have much desire for fame and fortune. Instead, he hoped to put his knowledge into practice and improve the environment of his hometown.

But now think about it carefully, without fame and official career, it is really difficult to change the outside world.

The two brothers chatted aimlessly for an unknown amount of time before finally falling into a deep sleep.

Before she woke up, she heard a noise outside. Hai Yue had been practicing martial arts all day, so she immediately opened her eyes, sat up, walked to the other side of the bed, and nudged Hai Rui, "Wake up!"

"Haha! Congratulations to both of you young men for being the top scorer and the top ten in the high school entrance exam. You are the bright young men and the elites of Qiongshan!"

As soon as he finished speaking, a group of people rushed in. The yamen runners in the lead were in high spirits, beating drums and gongs.

The county examination has not theoretically yet completely ended, but the rankings have come out and the news has leaked.

Not to mention the small county examination, even the list of candidates for the metropolitan examination, which determines whether one can pass the imperial examination and change one's life, will be leaked in advance to make it easier for high-ranking officials to recruit sons-in-law.

Of course, compared to the list of two or three hundred successful candidates, the county examination was much simpler, and it was impossible to announce everyone's ranking, so Haiyue, who ranked first in the exam, was the first to be known by everyone and the first to be congratulated.

"Thirteenth brother is a master of both civil and military skills, bringing honor to our Hai family!" "At seventeen, he's the top scorer, with a bright future ahead of him!" "Fourteenth brother is also in the top three, making our Hai family proud!"

"Am I first?" All the brothers came, smiling, and surrounded him. Haiyue was a little surprised.

As the saying goes, one's own family knows one's own business. His writing is just so-so, and it has too much imitation of Cheng Wen and Cheng Mo, so he has no expectations of being the top student in high school, and even thinks that his younger brother Hai Rui has a better chance than him.

After all, Hai Rui's articles are truly thoughtful. He wrote them purely for exam preparation, so they are inevitably empty.

Now that I am first, there is nothing to be embarrassed about. After the surprise, of course there is joy.

You should know that the top candidate can not only directly obtain the title of scholar, but it is basically a foregone conclusion that he will become a student on government academy.

A student on government academy is definitely a scholar, but a scholar is not necessarily a student on government academy. Instead, only a small group of them with the best academic performance can eat the emperor's food, receive six dou of rice every month, and have many hidden benefits and status.

Hai Rui's father, Hai Han, was a student on government academy scholarship. The family lived a comfortable life at that time, but unfortunately he died too early, leaving behind orphans and a widow. Although Hai Rui did not take the first place, he ranked third, which is a very high ranking. When the neighbors heard the news, they came one after another.

"Congratulations!" "I've always known Rui Ge'er was a great talent!" "Sister, you've finally made it!"

Mrs. Xie was strict in educating her son, but she was very open with her neighbors. In addition, everyone admired her for raising a son alone as a widow, and when they heard the good news, they congratulated her sincerely.

"Thank you! Thank you!"

Upon hearing that her son was among the top three in high school, Mrs. Xie finally smiled, and her wrinkles smoothed out. She walked everyone out of the house. Hai Rui's eyes were red, and he waved to his mother repeatedly.

The crowd surrounded the two brothers all the way to the county government office.

The final interview began.

This interview was different from the palace examination that would follow. The emperor would determine the ranking of the candidates and select the top three Jinshi scholars, while here the ranking within the county had already been determined, and it was just a matter of checking the quality of the students.

This is mainly because the imperial court also knew that there were many ways to tamper with the county government's preliminary examinations.

In order to prevent unqualified students from sneaking in, the county magistrate was asked to have a face-to-face communication with the students who passed the exam.

In the Qing Dynasty, this system was further clarified. Those who ranked in the top 20 or 30 in the exam were summoned to the county hall for the exam. The whole process was called "titang".

Therefore, the famous scene of Xu Weisheng listening to the questions in the TV series "Prime Minister Liu Luoguo" will not happen in the palace examination, but it is possible at the local level.

Now Hai Yue, as the first in the case, and Hai Rui, as the top ten, are both ranked at the front. Under everyone's envious gaze, they are the first to walk into the lobby of the county government office and pay a visit to the county magistrate.

County Magistrate Wu Keshuang wore a crown from the Liang Dynasty, a red silk gown with a green edge, a silver leather belt around his waist with a jade pendant hanging from it, and a brocade ribbon with yellow, green and red flowers, which was exactly the court dress of a seventh-rank official of the Ming Dynasty.

He had to dress formally. After all, after this county exam, he would have a teacher-student relationship with this group of students. Even if he could not be considered a teacher, after all, the level of the county exam was too low. But if these students became successful in the future, he would still take care of them when they met again in official circles.

Such an interview was naturally enjoyable and more like a banquet. At noon, the students actually had a meal in the county government office before dispersing.

Since there are no unqualified candidates, the list of candidates for the county examination in the afternoon will be hung on the wall outside the county government office and officially released.

Everyone filed out of the county government office, and Haiyue was surrounded again.

The previous murder case of Prince Annan had already caused a lot of controversy, and many local people in Qionshan had heard about it. Now that they had won the top spot in the case, they naturally wanted to make friends with this young genius who could uncover the truth.

There are also some people urging for more updates on Journey to the West...

This is no longer interesting.

After the exam, of course. Isn’t it not over yet?
After finally dealing with everyone's enthusiasm, Haiyue breathed a sigh of relief, and suddenly felt a pair of eyes looking at her.

He glanced around and saw Ji Hua, the legal advisor of Magistrate Shao Jing, waving at him in the corner.

Hai Yue found an opportunity to walk over and saluted, saying, "Master Ji!"

"Congratulations to Shisanlang for being the first in high school!"

Ji Hua clearly wanted to be happy for him, but he couldn't force a smile. He couldn't wait to ask, "Shisanlang, did you know that the Annan assassin who escaped earlier was killed and left in front of the government office. He even left a totem with his blood as a protest?"

Hai Yue nodded slightly: "I heard that the government is planning to investigate?"

"Dong Weng is furious, but Gu Fuzun doesn't want to get involved and wants to let it go. But now... something terrible has happened!"

Ji Hua said with a mournful face, "Just yesterday, Wu Lin, the Imperial Censor of Guangdong, arrived in Qiongzhou and disappeared at the post station. The same blood totem was left at the scene!"

(End of this chapter)