Hai Rui 海瑞

Description:

Since ancient times, who has ever escaped death? Let a loyal heart shine in the annals of history.
Upright and incorruptible, unskilled in flattery, enforcing the law impartially, solving cases like a god—Hai Rui, the incorruptible official known as the "Blue Sky."
In the Ming Dynasty, the most chaotic period in Chinese history, treacherous ministers and eunuchs controlled the court, and corrupt officials were beyond counting. Hai Rui: a ninth-rank county magistrate of Chun'an County, he was upright and unyielding, honest and incorruptible, unafraid of power, enforced the law impartially, and solved cases like a god... The common people called him "Hai the Blue Sky."
During the Jiajing era, the Grand Preceptor Yan Song held power as vast as the sea, blotting out the sky with one hand, colluding with eunuchs, throwing the court and the people into chaos. Hai Rui, undaunted by the powerful, as a mere county magistrate confronted Yan Song's trusted follower, the censor Hu Zongxian, and outwitted the corrupt imperial inspector Yan Maoqing... Joining forces with ministers Xu Jie, censor Zhang Juzheng, and others, he impeached Yan Song. In an instant, the court was filled with fierce debates, swords drawn, and bloodshed... After Yan Song's fall, Hai Rui served as a principal secretary in the Ministry of Revenue, coming into contact with the center of power. Seeing the court in chaos and the treasury empty, he was deeply grieved. He carried his own coffin and risked death to remonstrate with the Jiajing Emperor, submitting a memorial criticizing the emperor for believing in Daoism and neglecting state affairs... Yet he was stripped of office and thrown into prison...
After the Wanli Emperor ascended the throne, Hai Rui was appointed imperial inspector and governor of Yingtian Prefecture. He "struck the mountain to frighten the tiger," eliminating local tyrants and dealing with corrupt officials in every prefecture...