Qing Yao

Chapter 66: Can I Pay the Money First and Accept the Punishment?
Everything that happens at the dinner table must be completed perfectly.

Dongtai County was very quick and destroyed all the problematic policy essays overnight, even the printing templates. The county magistrate, who had stayed up all night, even drafted a new policy essay topic.

Fearing that there would be further problems, they specially asked the "expert" Zhao An to take a look. They were paid to help others get rid of their troubles. Expert Zhao carefully examined it for a long time and gave an affirmative reply of OK on behalf of the prefectural school.

If there is no problem with the test questions, then we can organize a re-test.

The county school urgently notified students who were on summer vacation to return to school immediately to retake the policy essay. The reason was that the policy essay paper contained typos and incorrect format due to the carelessness of the "printer".

In order to be responsible to the candidates, the magistrate re-set the questions in the spirit of fairness and justice, hoping that the candidates can correct their attitude and give their best to cope with this re-examination.

The word "official" has a mouth, so who has the final right of interpretation? You candidates should have an idea of ​​this, right?
It’s okay to have opinions, but please keep them to yourself.

If you don’t take the test, you will bear the consequences.

The proportion of policy essays in the Tongsheng exam is roughly the same as the proportion of geography and biology in the high school entrance exam. It can be said to be a main subject, but it is not entirely true to say it is a secondary subject.

In short, with the hard work of the relevant personnel in Dongtai County, the matter was finally resolved without any major problems.

It's not that there is no evidence, but that there is no evidence at all.

Even the extra copies of the test papers that were printed to prevent candidates from getting dirty or leaking were burned!

The oldest candidate taking part in the county examination was no more than twenty years old, and the rest were mostly teenagers of thirteen or fourteen years old. How many of them could have the political acumen of Expert Zhao?

Even if one or two things feel wrong, it doesn’t matter, because nothing is wrong.

There is no basis for what you say.

If you want to sue, you have to have evidence, right?

No, that is a false accusation.

Under Qing law, falsely accusing an official is a more severe crime. You definitely can't file a lawsuit at the county level, because you're accusing an official in the court. You can file a lawsuit at the prefecture or provincial level, but excuse me, you'll have to roll three iron nails first.

Who told you to appeal to a higher level?

After three rounds of iron nails, sorry, go back to where you came from.

It cannot be accepted!
There is only one result for the application: whether it is the province or the government, everyone will be in trouble.

Which official would be willing to suffer the same misfortune?

Isn't that the end?

Zhao An knew the rules. He would not interfere with the original ranking of the county. Whoever was entitled would be the one to take the position. He did not want to embarrass Dongtai County too much.

With a stroke of his pen, he signed his name on the list of names, representing the prefectural school to officially acknowledge the validity of the county exam results.

On the surface, the five thousand taels of hush money meant that Zhao An had gained a great benefit, but if one used their brains, one would know that Zhao Xuelu was taking a huge risk to resolve an unexpected disaster for Dongtai County.

It would not be an exaggeration to say that he is the savior and adoptive parent of these officials in Dongtai County.

If you kill him now, it will not only lead to an investigation from above, but will also turn Zhao Xuelu, who has already "gone into business", into a martyr who dared to expose traitors.

If his level continues to rise, he will definitely be a national-level martyr.

Therefore, working together is the right way.

Five thousand taels is a bit expensive to make a friend, but one's future is the key to success in life.

At worst, the people will suffer.

After another sumptuous banquet, Zhao An boarded the "official bus" of Chen Youwen, the magistrate of Dongtai County, and completed this official business trip happily.

Not to mention, although the county magistrate's luxurious carriage is not as good as an eight-person sedan chair, it is very comfortable to sit in it.

My waist and legs no longer hurt, and I would subconsciously lift the curtain and peek outside, hoping someone would block my way and complain.
The feeling of being a Zheng Yin official is praise.

However, he did not dare to take the Dongtai County carriage directly to the provincial school to report, but asked the driver to go back outside the city.

Zhao An still has some understanding of the principle of keeping a low profile.

He hailed a mule-drawn taxi and rushed to the provincial school. The first thing he did when he arrived was to ask Ma Xuezhen, who was in charge of faculty and personnel, to reimburse his travel expenses.

Yang, the instructor of Dongtai County School, was very considerate and specially charged some extra fees for Zhao Xuelu. Together with the travel expenses, the provincial school should reimburse Zhao An five taels and six cents.

It was two taels more than what Zhao An actually spent.

"So much?" Ma Xuezhen was also puzzled. In previous years, there were people who went to the lower counties to supervise the exams, but the fees were all within three taels. Why did Zhao Youlu ask for two taels more this time?

"Sir, this is the list given to me by the Dongtai County School. If you think I've over-reported something, you can send someone to Dongtai to verify it."

Zhao An, who earned five thousand taels of silver for nothing, did not care about the two taels of silver, but cared about the attitude of the prefectural school towards his work.

We must be tough and not give him a penny less.

We must never give people the impression that we are trying to gain an advantage by over-reporting or lying.

Seeing that Zhao An stood up straight and there was nothing wrong with the "invoice" given by Dongtai County School, Ma Xuezhen signed it with the idea that less trouble is better.

Anyway, he doesn't have to pay.

"I've signed it for you. Just go to the cashier's office and collect the money."

After handing the reimbursement form to Zhao An, Ma Xuezhen asked about the examination situation of Dongtai County School.

Zhao An praised Dongtai County to the skies, and even the county champion Xiao Lu, whom he had never met before, was full of praise, saying that Dongtai County might produce a juren in two years.

The prefectural school and the county school sound like they have a subordinate relationship, but in fact there is no question of who is in charge of whom, and they are even in a competitive relationship.

If the number of successful candidates in a county school is higher than that in the prefectural school, the instructor of the county school will most likely be promoted to the prefectural government.

The only way the prefectural school can control the county school is in the prefectural examination, which is the second round of the Tongsheng examination. Only candidates who pass the prefectural examination can take part in the final academy examination.

The first place in the county case is decided by the county, and the first place in the prefectural case is decided by the prefectural government. The market price of the first place in the prefectural case alone is at least five thousand taels.

If you use your connections well and want to win three prizes in a row, you will have to spend at least tens of thousands of taels of silver.

Zhao An took the reimbursement form signed by Ma Xuezhen and went to the accounting office to collect the money. Just when he got the money and was about to go home, he saw the director of the prefectural school, Tong Xundao, and an old scholar who was a teacher walking towards him, talking and laughing.

Seeing Zhao An, Tong Xundao nodded and greeted him: "Zhao Xuelu, are you back from Dongtai?"

"came back,"

Zhao An smiled and walked forward to bow to Tong Xundao, who was of a higher rank than him, and casually asked him why he was so excited.

Tong Xundao laughed and said, "Zhao Xuelu, you may not know this, but the imperial court has just notified all places that officials who commit crimes will no longer have to go to jail. They can simply pay the fine."

"Negotiation of criminal silver?"

Zhao An was stunned, feeling as if he had heard it somewhere before.

Tong Xundao saw Zhao An was stunned and thought that he didn't understand what he meant. He smiled and explained, "This is the negotiation silver. If you, Zhao Xuelu, pay a sum of money to the court, then if you commit a crime in the future, your serious crime can be reduced to a minor one, and your minor crime can be reduced to not guilty."

"So that's what you mean."

Zhao An suddenly realized and wondered why it was so familiar. Wasn't the "crime silver" the greatest money-making method in history that Heshen and Zhongtang came up with to celebrate Emperor Qianlong's 80th birthday?

After nodding to show that he understood, he asked curiously, "Then the silver for negotiating the crime must be paid in advance?"

Tong Xundao was amused: "Of course it should be submitted in advance. There is no point in cramming afterward."

Zhao An nodded again: "When do you plan to pay the fine?"

This made Tong Xundao unhappy: "Zhao Xuelu, please stop talking nonsense. I am an honest person and have never done anything wrong. Paying the fine for discussing crimes is just a waste of time."

The old scholar next to him also had good vision, and he quickly praised the instructor to the sky, almost calling him Tong Qingtian or Hai Qingtian.

Zhao An smiled apologetically for a while, then asked curiously about another matter that he was more concerned about, which was whether there were any restrictions on the rank and position of the silver for negotiating crimes.

"This is not."

Tong Xundao shook his head. The official report only said that any official who committed a crime could negotiate for silver to reduce his punishment, but it did not say who could pay it and who could not.

Zhao An said "Oh" and asked, "Sir, where can I pay the silver for the crime?"

He asked very seriously. Zhao An wanted to pay a fine first because he bet that he would definitely go down the road of crime.

So, it is better to pay the fine in advance.

At least it can save your life.

(End of this chapter)