Considering the consequences of angering Zhao Jun, Zhao Zhen thought about it again and again and decided not to be stupid. Everything should be based on Zhao Jun's wishes.
As a result, the imperial court officially issued an edict on the Huainan disaster relief corruption case. The whole story was published in the Di newspaper, and the Bianliang newspapers also exaggerated it, making the abominations of those people public.
For a time, both the officialdom and the people in Bianliang caused an uproar because of this incident. There was endless discussion in the court, and they all attacked the behavior of these people.
After all, the officialdom of the Song Dynasty was indeed dark. Corruption, bullying the people, and committing all kinds of evil are almost the norm, and there are only a few officials who are truly honest and just.
However, the central officials of the imperial court actually pay more attention to the reputation of being a clean official. Regardless of what they do in private, at least they must abide by the law and maintain the image of an honest official on the surface.
Even a despicable person like Xia Song only does business within the legal scope and never dares to take bribes.
Therefore, although Zhao Jun had a bad sense of Xia Song, he really had no reason to deal with him. Unless Zhao Jun directly demoted him for his own selfish reasons, there was really nothing he could do against Xia Song legally.
In this case, when those officials who claimed to be clean and honest learned that someone had done such an evil thing, they naturally impeached them all over the country. They were bound to deal with these black sheep to demonstrate the justice of the court.
With such a great cause in hand, the Constitutional Yuan followed suit and issued an order, asking the responsible persons to detain all the criminals involved in the case and escort them back to Bianliang for trial.
It was also specifically mentioned that this trial will be jointly carried out by Dali Temple, the Senting Yuan and Yushitai, and must be fair and just.
Hearing the news, the three yamen were extremely happy. They all looked happy and celebrated with each other.
Win, win.
They finally won.
Zhao Jun was not in Bianliang, and the judicial power of the Song Dynasty finally fell into their hands again. It was no longer the case before that the Imperial City Division monopolized all power.
So the three judicial offices immediately took action and jointly issued a notice to immediately arrest the officials who broke the law.
But they were still a step slow.
Except for those who are far away on the list, such as those in Hebei, Shaanxi, Sichuan, Shanxi and other places, as long as they are in the southeast region, Zhao Jun will basically catch them.
After all, Zhao Jun's action took place in June, and it was basically July when the court received the letter and announced the crimes of these people, which aroused public attention and made Zhao Jun's action famous, with a difference of more than a month.
This time is enough for Zhao Jun to arrest people everywhere.
Moreover, although Yang Chongxun's Chenzhou is just south of Bianliang and a stone's throw away from Bianliang, it is not far from Huainan.
So almost when the joint law enforcement team of the three divisions and yamen went to pick up the person happily, the local magistrate of Chenzhou told the other party that Yang Chongxun had been captured by the army a few days ago, which made people happy in vain.
Compared with Huang Wei and others, Yang Chongxun was a big fish who had served as prime minister, but it was a pity that he did not fall into their hands. This made the people of Dali Temple, Senting Court and Yushitai very regretful.
But it’s good to catch Huang Wei, and the trial will begin soon.
As for Zhao Jun.
By July, he had arrested all the prisoners he could.
It didn't take much to catch Yang Chongxun. He did have a small army in his hands. He was responsible for the assassinations of those county magistrates, but he still couldn't compete with the regular army.
In the eyes of the people, whether it is Yang Chongxun, Sun Miao, or even the local county magistrates, they are all high-ranking and untouchable big figures.
These people can crush them like an ant.
What they give people is endless despair and oppression like a mountain.
But that's how it is in the eyes of the people at the bottom.
If you move to another level, it will naturally be completely different.
To Zhao Jun, they were just a group of gutter rats that were dealt with on the way to the grassroots during the southern patrol, and it took no effort at all.
Moreover, it was Zhao Jun who saw this person and wanted to eradicate him regardless of morality or conscience.
no way.
When Zhao Jun was blind, he boasted to Zhao Zhen and others, saying that if he were in ancient times, he would definitely be able to initiate a revolution and make the Song Dynasty great again and become a powerful empire like the Han and Tang Dynasties.
As a result, after his eyes recovered, he was dumbfounded, thinking that he had really appeared in ancient times.
Then the bullshit had been blown out, and Yan Shu and others were persuaded to join the Song Dynasty Group, so they could only rush the ducks to the shelves and start reform matters.
Then reform must have a direction.
The right way is to put aside the improvement of productivity that cannot be achieved in a short period of time and find ways to alleviate the increasingly acute land annexation so that the people of the Song Dynasty can have a way to survive.
So with the boasted reputation, Zhao Jun embarked on a path to survive for the people of the Song Dynasty.
Go out and have a look.
Good guy, corrupt officials are everywhere, causing harm to the people and making their lives miserable.
If Zhao Jun still doesn't do something, isn't that a slap in the face?
I said I was good at chess, but you said you were Liu Qi.
Are you here to make a fuss?
So in summary.
It's not that Zhao Jun really likes killing people, but that he has a reason to do so.
The stated ambition is to comprehensively reform the Song Dynasty and make the Song Dynasty, from top to bottom, present a realm of vitality and prosperity.
Since he has made great aspirations, he has to do something, and these people he met on the road, according to Zhao Jun's previous metaphor of cultivating immortality, they are blocking his path.
If these people don't die, who will?
By August, Zhao Jun had already visited Huainan West Road and Huainan East Road, more than 20 states and hundreds of counties.
At the same time, the joint investigation department composed of Li Jianzhi, Jiang Tang, Yang Gao and others has also completed the collection of all the criminal evidence of those people. Their homes have been searched, people have been arrested, and the evidence is sufficient.
Zhao Jun quickly cut through the mess and signed his imperial edict. The leader would be punished with death. The rest of the execution personnel, such as local county officials, state government officials, assistant officials, senior officials, clerks, clerks, etc., were hundreds and thousands of others. No. 1, those with serious crimes were sentenced to death, and those with less serious crimes were exiled.
Moreover, their crimes were also announced to the entire Huainan, and notices were posted in various states, counties, and even villages and towns. Zhao Jun's determination to eradicate these officialdom cancers was demonstrated one by one by showing their crimes, execution time, and the court's attitude towards corrupt officials.
For a time, the people of Huainan were all rejoicing. At this time, Zhao Jun's fame spread almost throughout the south, and the momentum reached its peak. At this time, if he raised his arms and launched an uprising, there would probably be many people following him.
But this is not enough.
On August 10, Zhao Jun set out in February and stayed in Yingtianfu for a while. At the end of February, he entered Huainan West Road. Except for the two months in Hangzhou, he spent most of his time in Huainan.
He visited the countryside and investigated the public sentiment. In addition to dealing with senior officials, he also listened to public opinion and judged the rights and wrongs.
When he was in Yingtian Mansion, the local people did not dare to tell the truth to him because he did not reveal his identity, so Zhao Jun could only wander around the countryside. Unless he met the kind of victim who was willing to open up his chat box, he would not gain much. many.
But now that his identity has been revealed, people from countless places come to complain about injustice wherever he goes.
The complaints filed were all kinds of things. Some were oppressed by subordinate officials, some were due to internal conflicts within the clan, and some were just a matter of confusion.
For example, if there is a dispute between villages over water sources, and the villages on both sides are fighting, the servants from the government office can only come to mediate the situation.
Both sides felt that the people in the yamen were incompatible with each other and favored each other. Zhao Jun happened to be passing by and went to the countryside to investigate. They all came to complain to the Yamen, scaring the local magistrate half to death.
Later, after Zhao Jun learned about it and investigated the situation on the spot, he came up with a solution.
He asked the two villages to dig a new canal together and distribute the water according to water demand and the number of people in the village. The government supervised and strictly controlled the water, and no more competition was allowed.
At the same time, Zhao Jun also severely criticized the practices of the two villages, telling them that we are all neighbors. If you grab water, others will have no water to irrigate their fields. If the fields cannot produce food, the neighboring villages will starve to death.
Neighbors should help each other rather than fight.
Is it possible to cause loss of life when the water source is clearly sufficient and can barely supply two villages?
What is known is based on emotion, and what is moved is based on reason. Regardless of whether they listened or not, under the witness of Zhao Jun, they shook hands and made peace, saying that they would not have any conflicts in the future.
In fact, the conflict between the two villages is not deep. Although the local officials are at odds with each other, every time the two sides fight, they will come to stop it as soon as possible without causing any loss of life. Otherwise, it may not be so easy to resolve.
Zhao Jun encounters many such things every day. It's really a pain in the head for a dignified President of the Constitutional Yuan, who is comparable to the Prime Minister of a country, to have to deal with such trivial matters.
But there is nothing that can be done about it. Grassroots governance is directly concerned with people’s livelihood. If he wants to conduct grassroots research, he must face these problems, and naturally he can only solve these problems.
That is to say, he himself comes from a later generation, was born in a rural area, and has quite a lot of experience at the grassroots level. In addition, when people of different status say the same thing, the effect will be different.
If a local subordinate came to persuade them, the local people might not listen, but if Zhao Jun came to criticize and educate them, they would naturally be more obedient.
Even if there are some unruly people, at least they would not dare to violate it in front of Zhao Jun.
On the 10th, Zhao Jun just came back from Taizhou and went to Hailing County, which is under the jurisdiction of Zhao Pian. When he arrived, he saw that the governance was peaceful and peaceful. The people could not be said to have good food and clothing, but it was better than other counties and prefectures. It is much stronger, which shows that Zhao Pian's governance ability is indeed excellent.
Moreover, I heard that Zhao Pian was also very good at dealing with the powerful landowners in the county. He actually forced them to hire people to farm at high prices, and severely cracked down on the phenomenon of slavery, forcing those powerful landowners to sign equal contracts with the people they hired, greatly reducing exploitation and oppression.
This made Zhao Jun still have a good impression of Zhao Pian, and like Yang Gao, Wang Su, Yang Cha and others, he recorded it in the talent selection notebook. Together with Bao Zheng, he has at least five great talents that can be used in the future.
Back in Zhenzhou, Zhao Jun is currently stationed at the Huainan East Road Transfer Envoy Yamen, borrowing Jiang Tang's Yamen office for office work. Now that the entire Huainan has been traveled, it’s time to go south to Zhejiang, Fujian and other places.
But in the afternoon, Jiang Tang and Yang Gao came over to report official business to Zhao Jun.
In the transfer envoy's yamen, Zhao Jun sat on the main seat. After Jiang Tang and Yang Gao came over, Zhao Jun asked them to sit down, and asked someone to make tea before they started talking about business.
"Zhiyuan, this is the result of local treatment. Many local subordinates were involved. The current county magistrate accepted the bribe, and the current chief registrar and county lieutenant will be tried. Those with high guilt will be taken to Xiacai and exiled. The exile and the death penalty will all be executed at the end of this month.”
Yang Gao told Zhao Jun the situation.
Zhao Jun nodded and said: "Well, you guys have done a good job. The main purpose of this trip to this court is to understand the public sentiment, and handle this major corruption case smoothly. But for a long time, I still travel to many places, and these things are all It’s up to you to do it, thank you for your hard work.”
"Anywhere, it's my job as a subordinate."
Yang Gao and Jiang Tang quickly handed over their hands.
Then Jiang Tang added: "In addition to these dirty officials, the merchants and landlords involved in the case have also been arrested. This is the list."
As he spoke, he handed over the official document in his hand.
Zhao Jun took it and glanced at it. In the Huainan corruption case, officials were responsible for embezzling the grain, and businessmen were responsible for driving up the price. They sold the grain at a high price, and the money they got was divided into 30% and 70%.
70% belongs to the officials, and the 30% that the merchants can get depends on the faces of Yang Chongxun, Huang Wei, Sun Miao and others.
certainly.
Even so, these guys are not good birds.
Because strictly speaking, if businessmen want to make money, they must have their profits.
For example, officials were greedy for food. However, due to the disaster, the price of rice, which originally cost two hundred coins and one stone, increased five times to one thousand coins and one stone.
Then the officials will definitely give certain discounts to the merchants who collect the grain. For example, the market price is one thousand yuan and one stone, and the merchants will be given seven to eight hundred yuan.
However, the businessman was naturally not satisfied with this profit, so he continued to drive up prices, raising the original market price of one thousand coins and one stone to a whopping two thousand coins and one stone, making a huge profit from it.
This is why it is often recorded in historical materials that once a famine occurs, the price of food in the disaster-stricken area will often skyrocket several times or even dozens of times.
In addition to the fluctuations in the market itself, these merchants who hoard goods and raise prices are also the main culprits.
Since Zhao Jun has been involved in this case, he naturally does more than just crack down on corrupt officials.
These landowners and businessmen must not be let go.
Therefore, before arresting the officials, Yang Gao and the others were asked to continue to follow the clues and catch all these landowners and profiteers.
"Yeah, well done."
Zhao Jun glanced at the list. The crimes in it, including how to buy food from officials and how to drive up prices, were written clearly. He nodded with satisfaction and said: "We must give an explanation to the people about this matter."
"yes."
The two men responded.
Zhao Jun added: "Local landlords, serious offenders will be beheaded, and those involved will have their homes confiscated and exiled. You can decide the specific penalty standards yourself, but I hope they will receive the punishment they deserve. In addition, the names in their names will be The land shall be returned to the local government.”
"Take it back to the government?"
Yang Gao was a little surprised. He thought Zhao Jun would distribute it to the people, but unexpectedly he confiscated it directly. He asked curiously: "Does the magistrate's court belong to the local county government?"
"um, yes."
Zhao Jun nodded and said: "This will become a regular practice in the future. All landowners who violate the law will have their fields confiscated and returned to the local county government. Supervision will be made by the superior state government and road administration departments."
Jiang Tang wondered: "What should we do with the recovered land?"
"It's very simple. If you lease it to the people for farming, the local land rent is usually between 50% and 70%. Even if you only pay 50% of the land rent, you are considered a good landlord. It's really ironic. But when the people rent government land, after the deduction is completed, they will be considered good landlords. After taxes, you only need to pay about 20%.”
Zhao Jun said: "This is, firstly, to slow down land annexation. Secondly, it is to put pressure on local landlords. As long as the government and self-cultivated people own enough land, even if it only occupies 20 to 30% of a county, Most people are also more willing to rent from the government rather than from landlords, so landlords can only be forced to lower land rents to benefit the people."
"Wonderful."
Yang Gao flattered him and said, "If this happens, won't the government's taxes be even higher?"
"Um."
Zhao Jun said: "The 20% tax in this place can actually be kept in the local area to serve as the salary of subordinate officials, and it can also reduce the situation of subordinate officials asking for bribes everywhere in order to make a living."
"Zhiyuan is truly a man of God."
Yang Gao gave a thumbs up and said: "This method is really good. It not only solves the people's difficulties, but also benefits the local subordinates. It is really a good medicine."
Although he knew that Yang Gao liked to curry favor with powerful people and flatter his superiors, for some reason, Zhao Jun didn't feel disgusted. Instead, he felt quite comfortable in the face of Yang Gao's flattery.
Perhaps this is why in "Detective Di Renjie", the licking spirit Zeng Tai was able to rise from a small county magistrate to become rich and quickly became a deposed envoy.
"The absurdity of Tao cannot be said to be a good prescription or medicine, it can only be said to be a helpless move."
Zhao Jun listened to Yang Gao's praise, smiled and waved his hands and said: "And there are some disadvantages in it, which is also a troublesome thing."
"Cons?"
Yang Gao wondered: "Such a wonderful strategy, does it have any drawbacks?"
"Of course, rules are set by people, and they can naturally be broken by people. Sometimes the decrees from above are well-intentioned, but when they are implemented at the bottom, they are distorted by the local government and turned into bad policies that harm the people."
Zhao Jun thought of Wang Anshi's reform and said: "For example, the land owned by the county government can easily be rented by the relatives and friends of the subordinate officials. There may even be cases where the landlord uses various means to rent out the land and then sublease it at 50% of the land rent. Give it to the people and earn a profit of 30% of the price difference."
"this"
Yang Gao was dumbfounded and glanced at Jiang Tang, who was also very surprised.
They really didn't think that much.
Like Wang Anshi, the idea is good, but unfortunately the executioners are subordinate officials in the world.
It is impossible for these people not to think about their own interests.
When allocating these government-owned fields, it is reasonable to give priority to relatives and friends.
"So this requires the state government and the fourth division government to play a supervisory role."
Zhao Jun finally concluded: "The local county government belongs to the land, and the local county magistrate must distribute it personally and distribute it to the people in need, not the relatives and friends of subordinate officials and local landlords. This can be regarded as a political achievement and added to the assessment Among them, with the supervision of the state government and the fourth division government, the effect may be much better."
"Yes, I understand."
The two people immediately understood and bowed.
Zhao Jun nodded.
The Huainan corruption case should basically be dealt with, leaving the aftermath to them. He should continue his southern tour and go elsewhere.
(End of chapter)
