Great Ming: Chongba, Is This How You Test an Official?

In the fifteenth year of the Hongwu reign, the court's strict crackdown on corruption and harsher punishments ushered in an era of clean government.

But just then, a lengthy petition accusing someone of ten grave crimes was presented to the court!

"Your Majesty, Jiang Huaiying, magistrate of Taiping County in Fengyang Prefecture, is corrupt and lawless, and brazen beyond belief. He is notorious for saying, 'No money, no service.' He has committed his crimes in open defiance of the crackdown!"

"He even boasts: 'I can't refuse the money, but you can't refuse to give it!'"

Zhu Yuanzhang was enraged. As it happened, he was returning to his hometown to pay respects to his ancestors, so he went to the Taiping County yamen. There, he saw wealthy merchants lining up to give gifts!

Furious, he decided to investigate the matter himself...

At the Taiping County yamen, Jiang Huaiying saw a wealthy merchant carrying a sack on his back and was delighted. "Since you've come all this way, why bother bringing a gift?"

But when he opened it, he found nothing but fruits and vegetables. He flew into a rage. "You're testing an official with this? What official could withstand such a test?"

The merchant could no longer stand it and wanted to kill the scoundrel.

But the people of Fengyang County all wept and pleaded: "If you want to kill the magistrate, kill us first!"

"Our magistrate is a good official!"

This novel and its characters are entirely fictional. Any resemblance to real people or events is purely coincidental. Do not imitate.