Rebirth: From being expelled from the imperial court to becoming a high-ranking official

The prohibitions, imperial edicts, and notices were all sent out on the same day, and the tax and grain books and case files were also delivered by the clerks of the county government.

It must be said that the magistrate of Qi County was very efficient, and Qin Yunhe praised him in his heart.

The money and grain books and case files here had already been reviewed when Tian Fen came last year, so Qin Yunhe found it much easier.

That day, Qin Yunhe was reviewing a recent case file when he suddenly heard a noise outside the door.

"He Sheng, go see what's going on?"

He Sheng hurried out and came back: "Sir, someone is crying out for justice outside the door."

Qin Yunhe put down his pen and said, "Tell the officer to bring in the person who is crying out for justice."

"Yes."

Soon, a middle-aged man in his forties was brought in by the police.

The middle-aged man knelt down as soon as he saw Qin Yunhe, holding up a petition in his hand and saying, "I, Xu Zhao, am appealing for the Xu family and my son. I ask the inspector to make the decision for me."

Qin Yunhe asked him to stand up and asked someone to present the petition in his hand.

The plaintiff, Xu Zhao, claimed that his son Xu Zhongzhong was falsely accused of having ancestors who were slaves, and that his innocence was not enough for three generations, so he lost the qualification to take the county examination, and asked the inspector to make the decision.

In fact, Qin Yunhe was quite relieved about the case decided by Censor Tian. Since he made such a judgment, it was most likely verified.

However, thinking of Censor Tian's disgust and harshness towards the untouchables, Qin Yunhe decided to check it again.

Qin Yunhe ordered Wang He to find Xu Zhongqi's case file and asked, "First, tell us how your ancestors redeemed themselves and became civilians."

"Yes, sir. My great-grandfather Xu Youfu was unable to sell himself to the then Zhao family because of poverty. At that time, they were allowed to redeem him.

My great-grandfather was a down-to-earth and reliable man, and was trusted by Mr. Zhao, who later promoted him to be a manager. The two were nominally master and servant, but in reality they were more like friends.

Mr. Zhao was kind and generous to his servants. He treated them well on weekdays, and naturally gave my great-grandfather many rewards. Gradually, my great-grandfather accumulated some savings.

After he had some savings, my great-grandfather began to think about the future of his descendants, so he went to Zhao Yuanwai to redeem him. Now, by the time of my son Xu Zhongzhi’s generation, three generations have been clean. Who would have thought that there was a scholar named Zhao Huan, who was resentful because he failed to get a cemetery plot, and he even reported that my family was still a slave until my grandfather’s generation, and could not participate in the imperial examination. ”

After Qin Yunhe finished listening to his story, he went back to look at the case file carefully.

The Xu family's statement in the case file is consistent with Xu Zhao's, claiming that they had redeemed Xu Zhao's great-grandfather. If this is the case, Xu Zhongqi was indeed just old enough to take the imperial examination.

However, Zhao Huan, the teacher of Xu's private school, claimed that the Xu family did not redeem Xu Zhao's freedom until the generation of Xu Zhao's grandfather, which means that he had to wait at least another generation before he was allowed to take the imperial examination.

The reason why Zhao Huan said this with such certainty is because he is the descendant of the side branch of the Zhao family. He claimed that when he was young, he went to his uncle's house to pay New Year's greetings. Xu Zhao's grandfather Xu Shuanggui was still a small steward in his uncle's house and called him "Young Master Huan".

It was later, when Xu Zhao's father was a little older, that Xu Shuanggui redeemed himself and became a commoner.

The case file shows that Tian Fen asked someone to check the household registration, and Xu Shuanggui was indeed in the civilian register, but it did not indicate whether he had been a slave before.

But Tian Fen finally believed Zhao Huan's statement.

Because older people have confirmed that when Xu Zhao's grandfather was alive, he was indeed quite respectful to Zhao Huan and called him "Young Master Huan".

Considering Xu Zhao’s age, not to mention his grandfather, even his father may not be alive now. It might be a bit difficult to verify this matter.

"Are Mr. Zhao's descendants still in the county?"

"Your Excellency, the Zhao family is now headed by the younger generation. They are young and don't know anything about these things."

"I will send someone to verify the truth. You go back first. After the verification, I will send someone to summon you."

Xu Zhao naturally knew that this matter would be difficult to verify, so he bowed and left.

Qin Yunhe called the official and said, "Take two people to invite the current head of the Zhao family to come to the hall tomorrow, and also ask someone to call Zhao Huan to come."

It is true that Zhao Huan may have had selfish motives when he reported the incident, but having selfish motives does not necessarily mean that he was lying.

This was over, and not long after, another officer came in to report that someone else came to appeal for justice, so Qin Yunhe ordered the person to be brought in again.

The middle-aged man who came in looked to be in his thirties, dressed in short clothes. He knelt down and kowtowed as soon as he came in.

"I, Zhang Chun, greet the Inspector General."

After Qin Yunhe woke him up, he asked, "Zhang Chun, what's your grievance?"

"Sir, I am speaking up for the injustice done to my cousin Zhang Yu.

My cousin was originally a county government scholarship student with a bright future and was respected by others.

Before the county examination last year, he guaranteed Xu Zhongqi without knowing his background, and was stripped of his academic title and punished with a cane by the previous inspector.

However, several others who had pledged guaranty with Xu Zhongzhong were not punished. The previous inspector was unfair, and I am here to speak up for my cousin. I beg you to make a decision for me!"

"Zhang Yu?"

Qin Yunhe took the Xu family's case file and looked at it carefully. Zhang Yu was the student implicated in Xu Zhongzhong's exam fraud case.

In fact, Qin Yunhe felt it was a pity.

The students on government stipends were all excellent students in the county school, and there was a high probability that they would be able to pass the imperial examination in the future. However, they were stripped of their titles because of the guarantee.

Qin Yunhe looked at the incident carefully again and said, "Your cousin Zhang Yu was stripped of his title and punished with a cane because he knew Xu Zhongqi's background and accepted money from the Xu family to guarantee Xu Zhongqi's safety. His behavior was not good enough to qualify him as a scholar."

"No!" Zhang Chun said immediately: "Your Excellency, please allow me to report this. My cousin absolutely does not know the origin of Xu Zhongqi's ancestors. That happened many generations ago, how could my cousin know?

My cousin usually charges only two or three hundred coins for a guarantee for someone else, and even when he gave a guarantee to Xu Zhongzhi, he only charged two hundred coins.

As for the few taels of silver mentioned in the case file, there are many hidden stories behind them.

Actually, my cousin had caught a cold, and his condition was serious and he was almost dying. Our family didn't have much savings, and after consulting doctors a few times, we were running out of money.

It happened that Xu Qizhong came to visit at this time, and the doctor came to see the patient, but my aunt had no money to pay for the consultation and buy medicine.

When Xu Qizhong found out, he immediately gave my aunt a few taels of silver. My aunt was just waiting for the money to save her life, so why would she think so much?

And my aunt said at the time that the money would be paid back, it would be paid back!"

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Let me explain here that the descendants of the police officers were not allowed to take the imperial examinations, but for slaves, their descendants could take the imperial examinations after three generations of clean conduct. (I don’t know why the police officers were treated so harshly. Although many of them were born as scoundrels, it’s not the case that their futures would be blocked for generations. Before I wrote about the case of cheating in the imperial examination, I always thought that police officers could take the imperial examinations after three generations.)