Text/Kingdom Building
From the perspective of today's rule of law, if someone cheats on the civil service examination, they will generally only be punished by canceling the examination results or canceling the employment qualifications, and the most serious judicial examination cheating will be punished by imprisonment of less than 3 years. However, in the late Qing Dynasty in 1859, a Zhengyipin university scholar was beheaded and paraded in public for accepting bribes from candidates during the main examination for the township examination, and was the first person to be killed for cheating in the imperial examination after entering the Manchu Qing Dynasty. The winner is Bai Ye.
Bai Yao was not well-known in Chinese history, and if it were not for the fact that he was beheaded by the Xianfeng Emperor for cheating in the imperial examination, it is estimated that those who know him can only be found in historians. Xiaobian also inadvertently discovered this figure when looking up the information of Zeng Guofan's cheating in that year.
Bai Jun, born in the wrong year. Barut clan, formerly known as Song Jun, character Jingtao, Mongolian Zhenglan banner man, Qing Dynasty minister. Daoguang Sixth Year Jinshi (1827), Xuan Shu Jishi, taught editing. He was also the deputy governor of the Hongqi Han Army. In the eighteenth year, he was appointed as a waiter in the Shengjing Ministry of Works, a transfer department, and also in charge of Fengtian Fu Yin. For twenty years, he was summoned to the Ministry of Punishment, the Ministry of Corrections, and the Ministry of Households. For twenty-three years, he gave the homage to the Korean envoys, and for example, there were rao, but they were played. For twenty-five years, he served as Minister of the Interior. Twenty-six years, DianJiangnan Township examination. After the Xianfeng Emperor ascended the throne in 1850, he was heavily used, and was promoted to the military department, Hubu Shangshu, and co-founded university scholars. It can be said that Bai Jun's career path was relatively smooth in the Daoguang and Xianfeng dynasties.
In 1858, Bai Jun, who had been promoted to the rank of Scholar of Wenyuange University (正一品級, with the same position as Prime Minister), was commissioned to preside over the township examination of Suncheon Province (present-day Beijing), and the two deputy examiners were He Yushi Cheng Tinggui. In this examination, the candidate Luo Hongqi's family was wealthy, and he believed that he was not capable of being admitted to the examination, so he paid bribes to Bai Jun and the invigilator Pu An through Bai Jun's family, and secretly transferred the examination papers of Luo Hongqi, who had been included in the "vice list" (the unsuccessful list) of other examiners, into the "main list" (the proposed recruits). As a result, at the time of "" (equivalent to the current review), the typos in the Luo scroll aroused the suspicion of the surveyor, and reported the matter to the inspector Yushi Meng Chuanjin, who personally checked Luo Hongqi's examination paper, determined that there was fraud, and played it to the Xianfeng Emperor, and the case broke out. It is said that the Xianfeng Emperor personally asked the eunuch to take Luo Hongqi's scroll to check, and found that the total number of words was more than 700 words, and the sentences were not smooth, and the typos exceeded 300, and there were not even the level of students. The Xianfeng Emperor was a little incredulous, and ordered Luo Hongqi to retake the exam in the South Study Room, so that the university scholar Sushun proctored the examination. Luo Hongqi did not learn any techniques, and naturally the examination was a mess. The Xianfeng Emperor was furious and ordered the case to be strictly investigated.
In 1859, after more than half a year of investigation and evidence collection, Sushun, who was in charge of hearing the case, finally submitted a detailed investigation report to the Xianfeng Emperor. Candidate Luo Hongqi paid bribes to the chief examiner Bai Jun, the invigilator Pu An, and others and their families in order to exchange the examination papers to make Luo Hongqi, who had already fallen off the list, be lifted; the Manchu candidates were of ordinary age (Peking Opera actors) and could not participate in the imperial examination according to the laws of the Qing Dynasty, but the deputy chief examiner Cheng Tinggui and his son accepted bribes to help them obtain the meritorious name of the examiner by altering the examination papers and names. The truth of the case is clear, and the remaining question is how to deal with these criminals suspected of cheating in the imperial examination.
Candidate Luo Hongqi was sentenced to death according to the law for bribing the chief examiner to steal meritorious names; candidates who bribed the examiners at the same age to obtain meritorious names in violation of the law, refused to confess the truth after the crime, and died in prison after being tortured; Bai Jun's family committed suicide in fear of committing crimes after the crime; the invigilator Pu An accepted bribes to help the examinee Luo Hongqi cheat and was executed according to the law; cheng Tinggui, the deputy chief examiner, accepted bribes from the examinees at the same age, let him be promoted in violation of the law, was dismissed from his post, and his son Cheng Bingcai was beheaded; the deputy chief examiner invigilated the examination, did not report the knowledge, and was dismissed and returned to his hometown.
These people are relatively easy to deal with, after all, the law is in front of them. However, there was a dispute over how to deal with the main culprit, Bai Jun, the Xianfeng Emperor, and the university scholar SuShun. Bai Jun, as a scholar of Wenyuange University, was an official in Yipin, and if he was beheaded according to the law, it would create a precedent since the Qing Dynasty entered the customs. The Xianfeng Emperor deliberately spared his life and dismissed him from his post. However, Su Shun fought according to the law, saying that the imperial examination is a system for the state to select talents, and that it should be strictly enforced and punished by the Ming Dynasty, and that Bai Jun must be sentenced to death. Finally, under the public consultation of the imperial court ministers, the Xianfeng Emperor had to sentence Bai Jun to death and let Su Shun beheaded.
On the day of the execution, Su Shun chatted with Bai Jun in the name of a private person and returned home. Bai Jun was dumb and ate Huang Lian, and had to be tortured by the neck. He became the first Official of the Qing Dynasty to be beheaded for cheating in the Imperial Examination.
In 1861, the Xianfeng Emperor died of illness, and the empress dowagers of the two palaces jointly launched a coup d'état with Prince Gong, and swept away the eight ministers such as Sushun and executed them all. Some ministers turned over the case of Bai Junke's fraud in that year, and Empress Dowager Cixi gave instructions: Bai Jun deserved it and refused to overturn the case for him!