New Historical Book Series: Hai Rui's Story
by Wu Han
About This Novel
Hai Rui (1514-1587), also known as Ruxian and Gangfeng, was a native of Qiongshan, Hainan (now Haikou City). A famous upright official in the Ming Dynasty. Hai Rui experienced the four dynasties of Zhengde, Jiajing, Longqing and Wanli in his life. In 1549 (the 28th year of the Jiajing reign), Hai Rui passed the provincial examination and was first appointed as the Jiaoyu of Nanping, Fujian Province. Later, he was promoted to the magistrate of Chun'an, Zhejiang and Xingguo County, Jiangxi. He promoted clearing the heads and leveling taxes, repeatedly redressed unjust, false and wrong cases, and cracked down on corrupt officials, winning the hearts of the people. After being promoted, he successively held the positions of prefectural judge, head of the Ministry of Household Affairs, head of the Ministry of War, Shang Baocheng, general administrator of the two capitals, and censor of Youqiandu. He cracked down on tyrants, dredged rivers, built water conservancy projects, advocated severe punishment of corrupt officials, prohibited taking bribes for personal gain, and implemented a whip law to force corrupt officials to return their fields to the people, thus earning him the reputation of "Haiqingtian". In 1587 (the fifteenth year of Wanli), Hai Rui died of illness in his official residence in Nanjing. As a gift to the crown prince and Taibao, he was given the posthumous title Zhongjie. After Hai Rui's death, legends about him were widely circulated among the people.
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