The judgment section required simulating a local legal case, with verdicts drafted according to the Wu Code. Both the policy essays and legal judgments had to integrate the realities of current society, avoiding empty or abstruse theorizing.
The poetry section required specific rhyme schemes, primarily five-character lines with six rhymes, with themes focusing on moral education and the people’s livelihood.
County Magistrate Wang Baikui personally unsealed the final re-examination questions. A clerk copied them onto wooden placards for all to see. Lin Zezu, ignoring all else, focused intently on the questions.
Chapter 260