As the only way for most scholars to change their destiny and enter the officialdom, various frauds are emerging one after another, including bribery of examiners, cheating and plagiarism, asking people to take the exam on their behalf, etc.

Imperial Examination

Since Emperor Yang of Sui opened the Jinshi exam in 605 AD, the imperial examination has been the main means for the emperor to select talents and win over the hearts of the people for more than a thousand years since then. Especially during the Ming and Qing dynasties when the imperial examination system was maturing and prosperous, the imperial examination every three years involved major issues concerning the foundation of the country and the whole country. Any mistake was turbulent in the court's plan.

"Ten years of hardship, one volume will determine your life." As the only way for most scholars to change their destiny and enter the officialdom, various frauds are emerging one after another, including bribery of examiners, cheating and plagiarism, asking people to take the exam on their behalf, etc. Even if the court uses severe punishments and punishes them, it is difficult to stop the corruption cases. Every time, the killing of people is everywhere. However, in 1397, a strange imperial examination case occurred. No fraud still caused a stir in the court and the country. Dozens of officials died innocently, which is known in history as the "North and South Confused Case".

Stills from Zhu Yuanzhang

In 1397 AD, the Ming Dynasty ushered in the three-year imperial examination examination, and talents from all over the world gathered in Nanjing. Zhu Yuanzhang, the founding emperor of the Ming Dynasty, placed high hopes for this exam and had multiple political considerations.

First, in 1368, Zhu Yuanzhang proclaimed himself emperor to establish the Ming Dynasty, conquered Yuandu and ended the rule of the Yuan Dynasty, but the entire Ming Dynasty's unification war was fought until 1389; in addition, the Yuan Dynasty ruled the Central Plains in 1998, and some scholars and officials were favored by the Yuan Dynasty, and did not recognize the rebirth of the Ming Dynasty, especially in the later recaptured northern areas, which was not conducive to the rule of the Ming Dynasty.

Second, in 1380, Zhu Yuanzhang killed Prime Minister Hu Weiyong on the charge of "conspiracy of rebellion", and at the same time killed the censor Chen Ning, Zhongcheng Tu Jie and others; in 1390, Zhu Yuanzhang promulgated the "Record of the Treacherous Party", and killed a large number of Korean Gong Li Shanchang and other people on the charge of Hu Weiyong's party; then it was also said that Hu Weiyong colluded with Japanese pirates and the Northern Yuan Dynasty to investigate the party members. The case was not declared over in 1392, killing more than 30,000 people.

Stills of Zhu Yuanzhang

3, in 1392, the prince Zhu Biao died young, and the Ming Dynasty fought for the establishment of a crown prince. In the end, Zhu Yuanzhang chose Zhu Yunwen as his heir between the king of Yan Zhu Di and the grandson of the emperor Zhu Yunwen . In 1393, Zhu Yuanzhang, who was 66 years old and seriously ill, was afraid that Zhu Yunwen could not suppress the old ministers in the court after his death, so he created the "Lan Yu Case" and killed 15,000 people.

Therefore, for this imperial examination in 1397, Zhu Yuanzhang wanted to win over northern scholars, expand the foundation of the rule of the Ming Dynasty, use the imperial examination event to ease the tense atmosphere caused by the large-scale killings, and select talents for Zhu Yunwen in the future. Zhu Yuanzhang carefully selected a chief examiner for this imperial examination, Liu Sanwu , who was already 78 years old.

The great scholar Liu Sanwu

Liu Sanwu has multiple identities, which can be said to be the best representative of Zhu Yuanzhang's political intentions. First of all, Liu Sanwu was a leader of the scholar and a nationally renowned scholar. Even the regulations on the imperial examination system of the Ming Dynasty were formulated by him, and his status could definitely be the chief examiner;

Secondly, Liu Sanwu was an old minister of the Yuan Dynasty. After the Ming army conquered Guangxi, he retired to the countryside. It was not until 1385 that he was summoned by Zhu Yuanzhang and was respected as one of the "three elders". His identity transformation was very representative;

Finally, Liu Sanwu supported the emperor's grandson Zhu Yun Wen succeeded to the throne, and in 1392, the crown prince Zhu Biao died of illness. Zhu Yuanzhang summoned all his ministers to propose the crown prince and said, "Hiang 4 King Yan is like me, how about the establishment?" At that time, the King of Yan Zhu Di was already the most famous and most powerful vassal king in the world. No officials dared to offend him. However, Liu Sanwu stood up and clearly opposed the saying "The emperor's grandson was rich, the son of the generation, and the son died, and the grandson was in charge of the ritual. He immediately appointed the King of Yan, where was the place where the two kings of Qin and Jin?" Zhu Yuanzhang cried after hearing this, and later made Zhu Yunwen the crown prince.

North and South List Case

Unfortunately, Liu Sanwu is a suitable examiner, but not a qualified politician. In "History of Ming Dynasty", he is evaluated as "generous and uncivilized." To put it bluntly, he has no political wisdom. Liu Sanwu had no idea about Zhu Yuanzhang's political intentions. In this test in 1397, he really only judged the win or loss based on his results. All 51 people on the list were from the south, and the list was announced and caused an uproar.

Northern scholars who failed the exam connected with each other, wrote a letter to the Ministry of Rites to complain, and stopped officials' sedan chairs on the streets of Nanjing to shout for justice, saying that examiners Liu Sanwu, Bai Xinhao and others were biased towards southerners. In an instant, public opinion was in an uproar, and all kinds of rumors of "examiners collect money" and "private fraud" were flying everywhere, and Zhu Yuanzhang was furious and issued an order to investigate it strictly. In order to show justice, a 12-person "Investigation Team" was established, but the members of this investigation team, Zhang Xin, and others, were also very upright officials and would not fake it to cater to Zhu Yuanzhang. The investigation result was that this exam was indeed fair, and all admitted scholars passed the exam based on their true abilities. The results given by the investigation team made the northern scholars who failed the examination even more dissatisfied and continued to make trouble; officials from the central and northern court also wrote letters to criticize, requiring people to review the test papers and strictly investigate all the officials involved in the case; some people also reported that the chief examiner Liu Sanwu colluded with the investigation team to deceive Zhu Yuanzhang and deliberately presented the bad test papers to the emperor.

So is the test of 1397 fair? Is the investigation team's conclusion correct? In fact, the results of the exam were fair and indeed reflected the reality of the Ming Dynasty. Before the Southern Song Dynasty, the cultural center was in the north, and the social and cultural development level in the north was higher than that in the south; until the Jingkang Incident in 1127, the Northern Song Dynasty was destroyed, and in order to avoid the war, a large number of people moved south, the south became a new economic and cultural center. Moreover, neither the Jin Dynasty nor the Yuan Dynasty attached importance to culture and education, so the education level in the north was naturally widened by the south; in addition, the Ming Dynasty was the eight-legged scholar, and the Southern Song Dynasty Zhu Xi Cheng Zhu Neo-Confucianism was tested, and the southern scholars were even more dominant. Not to mention that in the early years of the dynasty, even in the Qing Dynasty, the long-term monopoly of the imperial examinations in the southern region with developed culture did not improve much.

Stills from Zhu Yuanzhang

But there is no right or wrong in politics, and officials who do not meet Zhu Yuanzhang's intentions must be severely punished. In May 1397, Zhu Yuanzhang summoned the chief examiner Liu Sanwu and others as "Lan Yu Remnants". Liu Sanwu was too old and was exiled to the northwest, and all the others were executed, becoming the scapegoat for the emperor to calm the storm. In June, Zhu Yuanzhang personally presided over the selection of 61 northern scholars on the list, and this "North and South List Case" was considered to be over. After that, the Ming Dynasty's imperial examinations and scholars from the north and the south were admitted separately in proportion, which to a certain extent eased the conflicts between the north and the south, maintained national stability, and was beneficial to popularizing cultural education.

However, this artificial division of the "North and South List" actually naturally divided the ministers of the Ming Dynasty into different camps. At the same time, those who entered the imperial examination and officials formed cliques according to their hometowns, which kicked off the beginning of the Ming Dynasty's party struggle. By the end of the Wanli period of the Ming Dynasty, there were many parties and constant party struggles. The Zhejiang Party, Qi Party, Chu Party, Kun Party, and Propaganda Party were all divided by the origins of officials. Even the famous Donglin Party was mainly composed of scholars and officials in Jiangnan. It can only be said that any policy has a good and a bad side. The long-term way is to constantly innovate according to different times.