Ming Dynasty Detective 1546

Chapter 2: Fourteenth Brother: A country will not perish if it has loyal ministers

"My name is Shao Jing, honored to serve as the prefectural magistrate. This is Li Weining, the prince of Annan, who has come to the Ming Dynasty with a special envoy."

"Greetings to Magistrate Shao! Greetings to Envoy Li!"

"No need to be so polite! No need to be so polite! I am Wang Weining, courtesy name Huaide. Haha... Excuse me, but the story of the Journey to the West was written by Young Master Hai."

"Envoy Li is right, but the Journey to the West is a true historical event that took place in China and India during the early Tang Dynasty. The eminent Buddhist monk Xuanzang traveled thousands of miles to seek the true scriptures. Through the accumulation of generations of creation, this fantastical mythological adventure has been presented. At best, I have only briefly adapted it..."

"No! No! I've heard a lot of Journey to the West stories in the market, and they're very different from what Mr. Hai wrote! Yours is so wonderful. I wonder what happened to Tang Sanzang in Baoxiang Kingdom after he was harmed by a demon and turned into a tiger?"

“There’s nothing more behind.”

"Why... is it gone?"

"To cultivate oneself, to regulate one's family, to govern the state, and to bring peace to the world—the aspirations of scholars like me are to diligently study the books of the sages and pursue the great path of the ancients. How can we be distracted by the story of the sages?"

"This... Xiao Wang really likes this story. I wonder if Mr. Hai can reveal the sequel? Just a little bit! Just a little bit!"

"If Envoy Li is really feeling suffocated, then just pretend that Tang Sanzang was never rescued."

"!!"

……

After the two sides met, they had a friendly and frank exchange.

Shao Jing, the magistrate of Qiongzhou Prefecture, was listening in. Seeing that Prince Li Weining of Annan was really anxious, the corners of his lips couldn't help but rise slightly.

Haiyue has a dignified appearance, a clear and upright voice, and is humble but not servile, which has completely reversed the initial impression.

The fact that he was not moved by the request of the foreign prince and broke off the relationship without hesitation made him nod his head secretly.

Well done!

This is what a Ming Dynasty scholar should do!
Little did they know that Haiyue was also somewhat helpless in the face of this foreign fan of the book.

"The Newly Published Illustrations of Journey to the West", which is the 100-chapter version of Journey to the West in later generations, is indeed his "work".

I don't want to talk about it now, not because I'm being reserved, not because I'm trying to be self-righteous, or because I feel sorry for Wu Cheng'en or Li Chunfang. Rather, I'm really repenting and reforming, just like Shao Jing believed...

Two and a half years ago, he traveled through time to this era and became the Thirteenth Son of the Hai family in Qiongzhou during the Jiajing period of the Ming Dynasty.

In later generations, he was called Haiyue, which means "Yue" in the sense of mountain.

In this life, she became Haiyue.

Yue, according to legend, is a magical pearl bestowed by God to the Holy Emperor Youde.

The generation of the Hai family all had names with jade-related characters, such as Haipo, Haizhen, Haiqi, Haishen, Haiyue, and Hairui. The "rui" in Hairui here does not mean a good omen, but Ruiyu, a kind of jade token in ancient times.

For the ancients, especially the Hai family, which was a family of scholars, this was indeed more in line with the naming custom. Naming someone with the character Yue meant that they were born with special honors and were talents chosen by God.

Haiyue is indeed handsome and talented, even without the system expansion, deep blue points, mission talents, and the benefit of returning to the modern era after committing suicide, modern people who travel back to ancient times, are familiar with the direction of history, and have vision and knowledge, are already at a high level.

What's more, there are inventions and plagiarism.

Haiyue is not very good at invention. The Ming Dynasty in the 16th century was not a thousand years away from the Han and Tang Dynasties, and many daily necessities had already appeared.

As for plagiarism, it was actually even more difficult. Fortunately, he particularly liked Journey to the West and had memorized many wonderful chapters. His memory in this life was even more outstanding, and he could still recall most of it. So he began to try to "create" the most classic 100-chapter version of Journey to the West in later generations, preparing to make a name for himself and gain a firm foothold with his famous work.

In the first year after his time travel, he focused all his energy on adapting to the environment and compiling Journey to the West. However, he did not gain fame and fortune and sit at home counting money. Instead, he was exploited by booksellers. He had to bear the stigma of "selling words" but received very little benefit, and ended up "I sow the seeds while others eat".

Fortunately, Journey to the West is a long novel, and he didn’t finish it in one go, so why hesitate? Just end it!

The content is exactly up to the 30th chapter "Evil Demons Invade the Righteous Dharma, the Wild Horse Remembers the Monkey King", which tells the story of the Yellow Robe Monster turning Tang Monk into a tiger in Baoxiang Kingdom. The Little White Dragon disguises himself as a maid to fight the old demon. After being defeated, he persuades Bajie to go to Huaguo Mountain to invite back Wukong who was driven away by Tang Monk.

Then there is no more then.

Tang Monk turned into a tiger and his path of plagiarism was interrupted. Haiyue deeply realized the importance of social status in ancient times, changed the direction of his efforts in time, and prepared to shoulder the burden.

He entered the county school and became an official.

The Hai family became wealthy not long ago. Within just three generations, they produced one Jinshi and several Juren in Qionshan, which was not easy to come by. Although Hai Yue's family has a unique painting style, they still have the family conditions for learning.

Haiyue is able to copy texts and has a certain level of literary proficiency, so there is no need to be too ambitious. Her second goal after traveling through time is to achieve fame and become a member of the scholar class.

With such a life plan, Haiyue could still be polite to the provincial prosecutor who came to her, but she basically ignored this Prince of Annan.

Li Weining tried his best to answer the questions, but he didn't get any useful follow-up. He couldn't help but look a little embarrassed.

But he seemed to really love this story. Even after being rejected, he still refused to give up. He turned to Shao Jing and said, "Shao Tuiguan, can you allow me to stay in the academy temporarily?"

Shao Jing was stunned and shook his head firmly: "Absolutely not! How can the envoys stay in the county school? After meeting the people, Envoy Li, please follow me back to the government office!"

"Oh! It's not safe even in the government office..."

A sneering voice came from behind Li Weining. The students looked sideways and found that the person who spoke was tall and strong, with a square face. His hand was on the hilt of the sword at his waist. He seemed to be the guard of the Annan prince, but he was very dissatisfied with the government office, and they immediately became curious.

"Don't be rude!"

Li Weining tilted his head, chided him, then turned to Shao Jing and said gently, "Before leaving, Lord Gu told us to stay here with peace of mind, saying, 'Isn't it a pleasure to have friends from afar? Guests from all corners of the world, upon entering your realm, should be treated with the utmost hospitality, without wanting anything, and made to feel at home.' However, even with the best hospitality, if I can't travel north, I still feel like the days are passing by like years. Now, I'm waiting in the state government office, feeling extremely anxious. I hope that Magistrate Shao will understand and fulfill my wish!"

"This……"

Shao Jing frowned, but seeing the students in the hall prick up their ears, he realized that this was not the place to argue, and said in a deep voice: "Please move." After that, he turned around and walked out first.

"Xiao Wang, goodbye!"

Li Weining bowed and said goodbye to the students. His gentle and elegant demeanor won him a lot of favor.

Everyone walked out together, except Haiyue, who took a few steps symbolically and then turned around and sat back.

Before he could bury his head in the scrolls on his desk, his younger brother Hai Rui whispered from behind him, "The Annan people are on a diplomatic mission to the Ming Dynasty. Shouldn't they sail across the sea to our Qiongshan?"

Hai Yue didn't even turn around, her voice coming through clearly: "Going by sea is not only a long way to go, but also involves risking one's life. Annan's journey must be unusual. Considering the government's awkwardness, perhaps there's internal unrest. They sent envoys to ask for help, but the local prefectures and counties didn't dare to agree rashly and are passing the buck!"

Annan is Vietnam, which is located just west of Hainan Island. Later, it only took a little over an hour to fly from Sanya, Hainan to Nha Trang, Vietnam.

But in that era, the two places were separated by the sea, and the exchanges were far less convenient and frequent than the border between Vietnam and Guangxi, and information was not exchanged.

However, if Haiyue remembers correctly, China, Japan and Vietnam each had a period of Southern and Northern Dynasties in ancient times. Vietnam's civil strife between the North and the South began in the early Jiajing period.

Considering the course of history, we can speculate on the reasons why this Annan prince chose to go far away and suddenly appeared in Qionshan, Hainan.

Of course, for Haiyue, this is just a trivial memory, but for the people in this world, it is quite amazing.

Hai Rui thought about it for a moment and felt that it made perfect sense. He said sincerely, "Brother, you are absolutely right!"

"How powerful is your Thirteenth Brother?"

Haiyue raised the corner of her mouth.

The Hai family of Qionshan produced a household name in history, and this person was none other than his younger brother, Hai Rui, who was the same age as him.

The two were of the same age, both born in the eighth year of the Zhengde reign. Hai Yue's birthday was October 8th, making him the thirteenth among his brothers, while Hai Rui's was December twenty-seventh, making him the fourteenth among his brothers.

Now it is the ninth year of Jiajing, and they are all seventeen years old.

Their grandfather was named Haikuan, a juren (a scholar) who served as magistrate of Songxi County, Fujian Province.

Hai Kuan had eight sons: Hai Shen, Hai Hao, Hai Mi, Hai Liao, Hai Chao, Hai Yu, Hai Yi, and Hai Han. Hai Yue's father was the second son, Hai Hao, and Hai Rui's father was the youngest son, Hai Han.

Hai Han was originally a student on government stipend, receiving stipend rice from the government office every month. Although he did not pass the imperial examination, he was still an outstanding scholar. Unfortunately, he died when Hai Rui was four years old, and was raised by his widowed mother, Xie.

Xie was a strong-willed person who was unwilling to accept favors from others. Gradually, she became estranged from the other branches of the Hai family and rarely interacted with them except for ancestor worship.

Haiyue didn't care and went to visit directly. After a few visits, they became familiar with each other and now they are studying in the same academy.

As for Hai Rui, Hai Yue was not completely influenced by his future reputation. Instead, she observed him quietly after getting to know him.

Many people in later generations were prejudiced against Hai Rui, believing that he was a moralist who could only shout slogans, a pure idealist, and had poor governing ability. When the TV series Ming Dynasty became popular, they also believed that it was a beautification of film and television works and a reflection of the protagonist's halo.

But in fact, the TV series not only did not exaggerate Hai Rui's abilities, but it even simplified them a bit in some aspects.

The real Hai Rui, when serving as the magistrate of Chun'an, could not rely on hidden backers like Prince Yu or the Qingliu clan. He was single-handedly responsible, and despite offending a number of bureaucrats, he carried out a major personnel shakeup in the government office, inspected the Yellow Book, investigated fraudulent taxes, remeasured land, and reorganized the Jun Yao clan. Each of these actions was done for the benefit of the local people.

When the Yan Party was at its peak, Hai Rui dared to confront Hu Zongxian and Yan Maoqing, using clever tactics and a combination of firmness and flexibility to prevent them from directly gaining any leverage. Later, when the Yan Party fell, finding that the situation had not improved, he pointed the finger at the culprit, Emperor Jiajing.

An article titled "Memorial on Public Security" almost drove Jiajing to schizophrenia. Sometimes he called Hai Rui a beast, a beast without a father or a king. Sometimes he thought Hai Rui was Bigan, and if he killed him he would become King Zhou. He was so indecisive.

Jiajing wanted the cabinet to deal with Hai Rui and silence the gossips, but the cabinet refused. Who would be willing to bear such a bad reputation for eternity? In the end, they could only lock Hai Rui in prison, and no one dealt with him until Jiajing died of illness.

By the time Longqing ascended the throne, Hai Rui's fame was at its peak, and he began to receive promotions. However, no one dared to give him real power, and he became a mascot of the court. Unwilling to be placed on a pedestal, Hai Rui used the Imperial Examination to put pressure on all sides, ultimately becoming the governor of Yingtian. He then took on the former Prime Minister Xu Jie and targeted the Xu family of Songjiang...

A loyal servant of the country and the people, a true legend!
Hai Rui at this stage is naturally not as experienced as he was in history, but his qualities of having a conscience, serving the country and the people, and being concerned about the country have been initially revealed. Hai Yue will sometimes tease him, such as calling him Fourteenth Brother or Old Fourteen.

A family with a son who can speak out will not ruin the family, and a country with a minister who can speak out will not perish. Hai Rui is quite suitable for this aspect.
After the two men finished talking in low voices, the students who had seen them off returned and gathered in groups of three or four, naturally discussing the Annan envoy.

Hainan is located at the southernmost tip of the Ming Dynasty, isolated overseas. On weekdays, they just show their teeth to the foreigners on the island, and have not seen many foreigners. Due to the principle that scarcity makes things valuable, they are very curious about the Annan people, not to mention that the visitor is a prince.

Not only were there discussions, but students soon went out to inquire about the news and returned in a hurry: "They've settled down! The Annan people have really settled down in the academy!"

Everyone crowded around, asking questions one after another: "Where is it? Where is it?"

"It's in the school building. The Annan people are choosing a room, and there are guards patrolling around. It's very impressive."

The student who went to inquire about the news pointed outside and looked at Haiyue, full of expectation: "Brother Yue, it seems that the prince is not giving up. He wants to live next door to you. He is so sincere, can't you continue writing?"

"Yes! At least finish writing about the difficulty of Baoxiang Kingdom!"

"Breaking it here is too much!"

……

"I will definitely finish the exam! I will definitely finish the exam!"

Haiyue responded as usual, and amidst the sighs of her classmates, she reminded them, "It's time for dinner!"

"Eat, eat!"

It has been like this in both past and present lives. Everyone's attention was immediately diverted by the food and they all rushed to the dining hall.

When we arrived at the dining hall, we heard footsteps. Annan and his group, who had just checked in, also arrived, smelling the aroma of cooking meat with oil and salt.

The leader's burning gaze immediately fell on Hai Yue. With a smile as warm as spring breeze, he strode over and said, "Little Master Hai, let's have dinner together!"

(End of this chapter)