Back In Time For Imperial Examination Chapter 58

The New Year of the 20th year of Chenghua was spent in an earthquake. On the first day of the first lunar month, the emperor went to court. On the second day of the first lunar month, the capital was hit by an earthquake, causing panic among the people. Yongping Prefecture in Zhili, Xuanfu Prefecture, Datong Prefecture, and Liaodong Prefecture were hit by an earthquake that was as loud as thunder. The ground in Xuanfu Prefecture cracked and sand and springs gushed out. Countless city walls, towers, and post stations outside the capital collapsed.

Before the news from other places reached the capital, the focus of the ministers was that the earthquake in the capital was a warning from heaven, and the emperor should purify his mind, reflect on his faults, cultivate his virtue, get close to loyal ministers, and not be confused by concubines and eunuchs. However, Emperor Chenghua was not someone who could be easily manipulated, not to mention that these frank remonstrations involved Concubine Wan. His fighting power suddenly exploded, and he went from being a good guy who said "I won't listen to your remonstrations anyway" to a fighting emperor who said "I am guilty and you are not clean either."

In his edict, he only mentioned himself lightly, pointing out that the ministers and the emperor "shared the same heavenly duty", and that the disaster from heaven must be related to the officials' laziness and playfulness, and asked the officials to reform themselves and live up to their duties. The imperial censors in the court submitted one by one, but Emperor Chenghua either kept them in the palace or accused them of a crime and sent them to remote places as county magistrates.

The officials from Northern Zhili who stayed in Beijing to pay homage were even more panicked. On the one hand, they had to pay attention to the court situation, on the other hand, they were worried about the disaster and relief situation in their jurisdiction, and on the other hand, they had to wait for the Ministry of Personnel to bring them to court.

Fortunately, they didn't have to wait long - the six ministries directly under the Northern Zhili Prefecture ranked first in the inspection. After Shuntian Prefecture and Baoding Prefecture, it was Yongping Prefecture's turn. Prefect Wang Wen first went to the court to answer questions from the Minister of the Court and the Chief Secretary, and brought out the achievements of the counties under his jurisdiction in education, finance, transportation, mining, construction, and righteous husbands and chaste wives, and commented on them in person to his superiors.