In the spring of February of the twelfth year of Hongzhi (1499), a case of imperial examination fraud that shook the government and the opposition occurred--Cheng Minzheng, a candidate examiner of the Impeachment Conference of the Household Branch, accepted bribes from Xu Jing and Tang Yin, candidates from Jiangyin. As soon as this news came out, it shocked the government and the opposition! The examination of the soldiers, the foundation of the country, could not tolerate a little sloppiness, so the Son of Heaven was furious and ordered the ceremonial department to discuss the office.
The Ministry of Rites filed a case on the basis of "rumors", imprisoned Hua, Cheng, Xu, and Tang, and found nothing during the months of interrogation, because there was no empirical evidence, and the final conclusion could not be concluded. In the end, this unwarranted case of scientific expedition fraud ended in misery, and Hua Chang transferred the master book of the Nanjing Taibu Temple with "not observing everything he said"; the chief examiner Cheng Minzheng, with the principle of "getting rich and not avoiding suspicion, having a defilement of Wenheng, and going through all kinds of solicitations and discussions", ordered him to become a soldier; after his release from prison, he died of excessive grievances and grief and indignation because of the incurable carbuncle poison, and after his death, he confessed to the future generations that he would never be an official; Xu Jing and Tang Yin were ordered never to be officials, only to be officials.
For hundreds of years, there have been many disagreements in this case, most of them have formed grudges with people when they were around the chief examiner Cheng Minzheng as an official, while Tang Yin is frivolous and arouses people's jealousy, and then both of them are secretly calculated.
At the end of the fraud case, Wu Kuan's "Begging Post" was treated as if it were written on August 19 of the same year according to its money and the words of the Examination Qizha. Careful examination of its contents can be slightly confirmed and supplemented by historical records.
▲ "Wu Kuan to Ou Xinzha"
"Letter to Ou For Tang Yin's Beggars", book on paper, Shanghai Museum.
The full list is as follows:
Since he arrived in Wuzhong, he could not write a book, and the edict had already arrived first, and he had not yet examined when he would go to Zhejiang, which was extremely hanging. There are □ this year's science field affairs, involving the villager Tang Yin, The Canal is just to the cheng place, for the main Liang wash horse to ask for a send-off, several times, there are people who are jealous of his fame, so they add slander. When the officials heard about it, they did not visit it, and even the name was sparse, and after the Fasi Ju asked, he also knew his feelings, and the reference language was light, because the gift department received and sent it. There is no distinction between the ministries, but they cite distant examples, and they are all full of officials. This matter is known to all the doctors and doctors, not in the special township. Although the canal tried to play the complaint several times, the matter was no longer complete. Now he went to Zhejiang Province, and the old man of Tu was sorry that he had suffered this, and he was designated as the official. If you go to the other side, you are eager to talk to the noble elder Yang, Han Erfang Bo and Zhu Liaoyou, read a Jing Min Xie Yuan, live a clean and elegant and studious life, have no other faults, wander into poverty, and are not on the top, and the situation is really embarrassing. When the good sound arrives, or when there is a head, forgive and do not forget the grace. This is the case in the midst of redundancy, and there is no time for him, but he is not prepared for it. At the end of the family, Wu Kuan then paid homage to the deacon of the Great Counselor. August 19.
Wu Hufan Jian Collection Seal
Wu Kuan's book, also known as "Begging For Love", is a letter from Wu Kuan to his colleagues, Tang Yin, a fellow villager who was implicated in the cheating case, to his colleagues and asked him to take care of him.
The calligraphy is a small line book, the ink color is light, the word spacing is compact, the dot stroke is slightly plethy and the mention is natural, which has the typical calligraphy style of Wu Kuan. Once Wu Hufan collected, named "Tang Yin Begging Love Post", this page has "Wu Hufan Treasure Seal" and "Meijing Bookstore Secret" and other collection chapters of six pieces.
The first half of the letter is Wu Kuan's brief account of the origin of the matter, indicating that Tang Yin was implicated because he "sat on the main Liang washing horse" to "Cheng" and "asked for a letter to send off". "Cheng Division" is Cheng Minzheng; "Liang Wash Horse" is the SiJing Bureau Wash Horse and Hanlin Academy Attendant Liang Chu, a year ago (Hongzhi eleven years) as the Ying Tianfu Township Examination Examiner, admitted Tang Yin as Xie Yuan. At the end of the same year, Liang Chu was ordered to serve as an envoy and went to Annam with a festival, on behalf of the emperor, li Hui, the son of Annam, as the king of Annam. The so-called "send-off of the letter" refers to this matter.
Then there were "those who were jealous of his fame" who slandered him, and even went to prison to fill the officials. Since the beginning of the Ming Dynasty, there has been a clear distinction between officials and officials, and Xu officials are not allowed to serve as imperial historians, prefects, or examiners. This means that the officials will never emerge. Even "since the middle of the Ming Dynasty, scholars and masters have treated Xu officials as slaves and thieves", which is an unbearable humiliation for literati who regard themselves as clean and high. Therefore, the scholars and doctors often expressed sympathy for Tang Yin, and at this time, Wu Kuanzheng was serving as the right attendant of the official department, and what he came into contact with and perceived should be the true attitude of the scholars.
In the second half of the letter, Wu Kuan begs Tang Yin's soon-to-be-serving magistrate and asks him and his colleagues to be kind to him.
Wu Kuan's title for the believers was "Great Counselor", "Great Counselor" ming Dynasty official, and there was one envoy on the left and right in each place, and there were several people under him who participated in politics. Checking the Ming Shilu Xiaozong Shilu volume 153, in August of the twelfth year of Hongzhi, "Sheng Hubu Lang Zhong Ou Xin was the left suffragette of the Zhejiang Cloth Political Department", for a long time before that, there was no record of the transfer of zhejiang's political positions. Therefore, Wu Kuan's letter was written to Ou Xin.
Wu Kuan loved Tang Yin's talents and wrote letters of begs to support his colleagues, lest he be embarrassed in the local situation. From the calligraphy point of view, the distance between the whole correspondence is dense and the handwriting is compact, which can be seen in the eagerness of Wu Kuan when writing. In the end, the arrogant Tang Yin unexpectedly refused to serve as an official, and Wu Kuan's kindness did not come in handy.
Tang Yin also finally responded to Wen Zhengming's father's words: "If his people are frivolous, I am afraid that they will not succeed in the end." "Sadly.