Zhao Zhigao took the initiative to come to Shen Yiguan. His original intention was two-fold: first, being pragmatic can never be defeated. Rather than working in vain on this matter, it is better to use your energy to do something within your ability; second, Emperor Zheng The imperial concubine will not fall, and the fact that she will not fall can be used now to get Shen Yiguan out of the current trouble.
These two levels of meaning can be further refined. For example, the first level of meaning: High pragmatism cannot defeat you. So what should the Xin School transfer its energy to to be meaningful? In addition, should the country-based dispute continue?
Let’s leave the first question unanswered for now, and the answer to the second question may be a little surprising. The answer is: yes. However, this "want" is not that simple.
After Zhao Zhigao came out of the palace, he set off back to his home. As soon as he got off his green sedan chair, the housekeeper reported that Section Chief Zhong had been waiting for him for a long time.
"Yes." Zhao Zhigao didn't know whether he was really tired or whether he always cherished words like gold at home. In short, he didn't say much and went straight to the study.
As soon as they entered the study room, everyone in the engineering department immediately stood up to say hello to Zhong Zhaodou: "Student Zhaodou, I have met the teacher."
After the "teacher", you can take the "adult". After all, as the old saying goes, once you are a teacher, you will always be a father.
"You're here, okay, okay, sit down and talk." Although Zhao Zhigao said so, Zhong Zhaodou naturally would not sit down now. Instead, he stepped forward to help the Prime Minister sit down first, and then sat back down respectfully. position.
Zhao Zhigao coughed twice, and then asked: "How is the inquiry going?"
Zhong Zhaodou sighed, shook his head slightly, and said in a rather serious tone: "Master, the situation may not be good, the student will ask first..."
"To make a long story short, I'm a little tired." Zhao Zhigao waved his hands slightly.
"Uh... yes." Zhong Zhaodou was temporarily interrupted, and he organized his words a little before continuing: "The general situation is that only the Ministry of Punishment is relatively confident, and there are too many Gao Rixin in the Metropolitan Procuratorate. Not to mention Dali Temple, the current Chief Minister Wang Liantang is not only the same year as Gao Rixin, but also one of the teachers of his eldest son Gao Yuan."
Zhao Zhigao did not answer immediately. There was silence in the study room, except for the breathing of teacher Zhao Ge and his apprentice.
After a long while, Zhao Zhigao said, "What do you think?"
Zhong Zhaodou seemed to have expected this question from his teacher, and immediately said: "Brother Shi's actions are not for his own selfishness. Now that he is being criticized, how can I, the Xinxue sect, turn a blind eye? We must take measures to rescue him. For Therefore, even if there is some exchange with Gao Rixin, the students think it is reasonable."
It turned out that what they were talking about had nothing to do with the emperor's coughing up blood or the dispute over the country's foundation, but the impeachment of Zhao Zhigao's son Zhao Fengwei. What happened to Zhao Fengwei? He collected an additional salt tax of more than 70,000 taels in Huai'an but did not report it to his account.
Zhao Fengwei was the deputy transport envoy to the Huaihe River and the Huaihe River at that time, and belonged to the Salt Transport Envoy Department of the Huaihe and Huaidu Capitals. This department is in charge of salt administration in Huaihe and Huaihe, and has three divisions under its jurisdiction: Taizhou, Huai'an, and Tongzhou. The transfer envoy from the capital should be from the third rank; Tongzhi should be from the fourth rank; the deputy envoy should be from the fifth rank, each with one person. There are also judges below, starting from the sixth rank, with no quota. In addition, there are the positions of experience department, governor, salt department department, salt warehouse, ambassador and deputy envoy of the laboratory.
There are two "deputy envoys" here, but the latter one is not popular and is generally referred to as "the deputy envoy with experience in the Salt Academy". Zhao Zhigao's son Zhao Fengwei is not this one, but the previous one, who is equivalent to the third-in-command of the Salt Transfer Department in Lianghuaidu.
Generally speaking, the position of the third-in-command in a unit is quite embarrassing, but Yanyuan is different. Among the three divisions under the jurisdiction of the Lianghuai Capital Salt Transport Department, Huai'an is the largest, strongest, and richest - this is actually easy to judge. Among the three divisions, Taizhou and Tongzhou are prefectures, and Huai'an is the prefecture. The area alone is much larger.
Because of the importance of Huai'an, the deputy envoys of the Salt Academy were generally not stationed in Yangzhou, where the Salt Academy was located, but in Huai'an. This created an opportunity for the deputy envoys to dominate Huai'an.
As for the 70,000 taels of silver, Zhong Zhaodou said that Zhao Fengwei "brother's actions were not for his own selfishness." This really did not absolve Zhao Fengwei of his guilt, because although he did levy an additional 70,000 taels of silver, he personally repaid the money. Really, no money was taken from it, and it was all given to the Heart School for "public use".
Not long ago, among the huge sum of money transferred to the capital by the "private people" of the Xin School, the 70,000 taels provided by Zhao Fengwei were included, but it was only in the name of other people.
However, Zhao Fengwei is not completely unjust, because although the money he provided was not for personal enrichment, it was a political investment. Once the plan set by the Heart School succeeds, he will definitely have to take some of the credit in the end.
If you are an ordinary person, if your political investment fails, you must bear the responsibility for what you have done. However, Zhao Fengwei is not an ordinary person. Although he is only in the fifth rank, he can't bear to have a pavilion father! How could Zhao Zhigao watch his son lose his job because of "privately collecting salt tax"?
So, after Wang Jiaping told the emperor about the incident in person on the afternoon of the day when he coughed up blood, Zhao Zhigao immediately began to look for a solution.
If this kind of thing didn't become a big deal, Zhao Zhigao would have had the opportunity to find a solution privately given his status. But if the trouble has become so big that it even reaches the level of impeachment by the imperial censor and the bullets are sent to the hands of the chief minister, then it will be difficult to eliminate it through secret methods and can only be solved through formal procedures.
Of course, such a problem is not as serious as someone "intending to kill the king", so there is no need to bother Dongchang and Jinyiwei, but the process is still quite complicated, and each of the three law departments has its own part that needs intervention.
Of course, according to what Zhong Zhaodou just said, the biggest problem Zhao Zhigao faced was obviously in Dali Temple - after all, the chief minister of Dali Temple was written by Wang Ting, the same year as Gao Pragmatic. He was ranked No. 3 at the time, only behind No. 1 pick Gao Xiangjing and No. 2 pick Xiao Liangyou.
Dali Temple has long been a judicial institution. It was called Tingwei during the Qin and Han Dynasties, and was officially renamed Dali Temple during the Northern Qi Dynasty. Dali Temple had different functions in different periods. In the Tang and Song Dynasties, it was equivalent to the Supreme People's Court in later generations. It was responsible for central officials and cases affecting national politics. It also had the power to retry local cases.
However, during the Ming Dynasty, Dali Temple had no judicial power and was only responsible for the review of cases.
As mentioned before when introducing Ting Tui, the "Nine Qings" of the Ming Dynasty refer to the top leaders of the Six Ministries, the Metropolitan Inspectorate, the General Affairs Department and the Dali Temple. This shows that the status of the Dali Temple is not bad. Specific to the division of labor among the three judicial departments, the Ministry of Punishment has the power of trial, the Metropolitan Procuratorate has the power of picketing, and the Dali Temple has the power of review.
"The three law departments are the Japanese Punishment Department, the Metropolitan Procuratorate, and the Dali Temple. The Punishment Department receives the name of punishment from all over the world, the Metropolitan Procuratorate picks it up, and the Dali Temple refutes it."
Generally speaking, the Ministry of Punishment makes civil sentences, and the Metropolitan Procuratorate specializes in impeaching officials, but both must send the verdicts to Dali Temple for review. Regarding the size of eucalyptus, Dali Temple also has different powers.
For example, in a simple civil case, the local magistrate sentenced the civilian to a spanking. Such cases have been spanked first, and will be reported by the county magistrate to superiors such as the magistrate, and then reported step by step, and finally summarized in Dali Temple. Dali Temple will only save this kind of eucalyptus to make a base, and will not interfere with it in boredom;
The other category is disciple, wanderer, emigration, and exile. That is to say, local people are sentenced to exile, imprisonment, or military confinement. Such sentences must be reported to the Ministry of Punishment for approval before they can be executed. Dali Temple will analyze and determine after the fact whether it is reasonable and whether the evidence is sufficient. Based on this, the case can be sent back to the local area for retrial - but it should be noted that Dali Temple cannot overturn the decision and can only return it to the original department;
Then came the death penalty. For this kind of crime, as long as Dali Temple doesn't nod, the death penalty cannot be carried out - of course, the final decision-maker of the death penalty is the emperor. If the emperor says to kill, then Dali Temple can't do anything. In this case, only the cabinet rejects the imperial decree. It can be stopped.
As for the general death penalty, the Dali Temple will analyze the testimonies and analyze whether the official's decision is reasonable. If it is reasonable, it will be reported to the cabinet, which will vote on it and give it to the emperor. The ceremonial supervisor will then approve it and send it back. The Dali Temple will read it again and think it is okay. This way the following can be executed.
If Dali Temple feels that there is any doubt about the case, it will return the case to the original place of judgment and order officials to retry it. Of course, most original officials will continue to uphold their findings. If Dali Temple still feels that the verdict is wrong after doing this for the second time, it will assign the case to another institution (or official) at the same level for trial, usually an institution at the same level, such as the magistrate of Linxian County, the magistrate of Linxian County, etc.
The Ming Dynasty usually sentenced the death penalty to "five times." That is to say, if a county magistrate sentenced a commoner to death and reported it to the superior, the superior would order a retrial five times. In many cases, the magistrate at the same level or the superior would order a retrial. The prefect, the procuratorate, and even the Procuratorate and the Ministry of Punishment sent people to retry the case.
Of course, death row inmates will also be sent to provincial prisons or prisons of the Ministry of Punishment, and in most cases these death row inmates will die in prison - well, this is because the Ming Dynasty was very cautious about the death penalty, even a little too cautious, resulting in the death penalty The sentence will be lengthy. Often when Dali Temple really figured out the death penalty and reported it, it would encounter Liu Zhong, that is, the emperor accepted the memorial but received no response, and then the prisoner died due to being in jail for a long time.
As for the Metropolitan Procuratorate, Dali Temple generally has less control. Because the officials impeached by the Metropolitan Procuratorate are really out of the hands of junior officials, but if they are high officials, they will have to go to all three courts. Sometimes, depending on the condition of the item itself, Jin Yiwei or even Dongchang may be added.
And if it is a high-ranking official, or a big one that shocks the whole country, the emperor will let all six ministers and nine ministers take over - this is called Yuan Shen, which is basically the highest level.
Zhao Fengwei's 70,000 taels of silver for privately levied salt tax obviously has not yet reached the point of requiring full review, but 70,000 taels of silver is by no means a small amount in the Ming Dynasty, and although the Lianghuai deputy transport envoy is not high-ranking, his position is important. There is a high probability that the case will require a joint trial by the three agencies.
The Ministry of Punishment is always in charge of Shen, and although the current Shangshu of the Ministry of Punishment, Sun Piyang, is from Fuping, Shaanxi, he is one of the few powerful officials in Beibang who is not from the real school. This means that the Ministry of Punishment is the territory of the Heart School and is less affected by Gao Pragmatism.
The Metropolitan Procuratorate is a special yamen. Although its top leader, Zuodu Censor, leads the entire Metropolitan Procuratorate, the various censors in the Metropolitan Procuratorate are only led by Zuodu Censor, but they do not need to be responsible to Zuodu Censor— —They were directly responsible to the Emperor.
what does that mean? This means that the Zuodu Censor often does not represent the entire Metropolitan Procuratorate in a specific case, and each Censor can express his opinions according to his own ideas.
Therefore, the Metropolitan Procuratorate will not be completely controlled by a certain force. Most of the time, various factions will go to the Metropolitan Procuratorate to recruit people. Eventually, several faction circles will be formed within the Metropolitan Procuratorate. If anything happens to the court, they will be affected. It takes a long time to argue within the Procuratorate.
Of course, now that the Practical School is gaining momentum, and there are more censors in the Metropolitan Procuratorate who are on the pragmatic side, the Xinxue School is at a disadvantage. Moreover, under the current circumstances, Xiao Daheng, the censor of Zuodu, who was born in Shandong, has always been on the side of high pragmatism, which makes it even more difficult for the Xin School to rely on the Metropolitan Procuratorate for key events.
Therefore, under the current circumstances, Zhao Zhigao judged that this situation is very likely to form:
Wang Jiaping was impeached and voted to approve the investigation, and Zhu Pi agreed. Soon after, the Ministry of Punishment believed that there was insufficient evidence that Zhao Fengwei was corrupt, reported the evidence, and requested that the investigation be withdrawn. Subsequently, the Metropolitan Procuratorate believed that the Ministry of Punishment was a complete fart and asked the Ministry of Punishment to continue the investigation. It also asked local prosecutors and police officers to participate in the investigation and form a "joint investigation team" with the Ministry of Punishment.
Afterwards, the Ministry of Punishment insisted on its original view, while the Metropolitan Procuratorate firmly rejected it. Nanjing (Huaian Salt Affairs was under the jurisdiction of Nanjing) and the local governor realized that the matter was of great importance, so they expressed an ambiguous position.
As a result, the Metropolitan Procuratorate and the Ministry of Criminal Affairs couldn't argue, and each sent the case to Dali Temple, which would determine whether in-depth investigation was needed before a trial.
Therefore, whether this matter ultimately needs to be tried, except for the situation where the emperor cannot restrain himself and takes the initiative to intervene in advance, there is a high probability that the judgment of Dali Temple will be used to decide whether to succeed.
In other words, the person who can really decide whether Zhao Fengwei's private salt tax of 70,000 taels is true or not is actually Wang Tingzhuan - of course, that is equivalent to being highly pragmatic.
In addition, there is a very critical issue. Zhao Zhigao knows very well that Gao Pragmatic can not only decide "this case is established", he even has the ability to conclude in one sentence "this case is not established".
Why is this? Because on the day Wang Jiaping mentioned this matter, Zhao Zhigao said on the spot: "The Lianghuai Transportation Department is under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of Household Affairs, and the dog is no more than a deputy envoy. How could he do such a thing under the supervision of the Ministry of Household Affairs?"
In other words, as long as the Ministry of Accounts jumps out and says: The additional tax on this amount of money was approved by the Ministry of Accounts in advance. Then, the whole thing completely changed direction, and all Zhao Fengwei's actions were endorsed and became reasonable and legal.
But the question is, why should Gao Pragmatic help? You know, Tobe jumped out to take the pot at this time. The pot was a bit hot, but it didn't mean that Tobe could take the pot without changing his expression or heart.
Gao pragmatically wants to take over this pot. He can definitely do it, but he will definitely find other ways. For example, it was suddenly stated that the Ministry of Revenue had earlier given a certain amount of "free additional tax quota" to the Huaihe and Huaihe River Transport Envoys because of the possibility of an expedition to Japan after the war in Korea. The purpose was to meet the possible demand for Japanese expeditions.
Obviously, later, because the emperor recalled Gao Pangshi to the capital, the Japanese expedition was not to say failed, but at least delayed. However, the Lianghuai Transport Envoy did not receive the news, or received the news but did not realize that it meant that the Japanese expedition was cancelled. Therefore, Zhao Fengwei, who was actively concerned about state affairs, still implemented the instruction to impose an additional 70,000 taels of salt tax in Huai'an.
The whole thing was completely dealt with at this point. What, you said you should take a look at the instructions from the Ministry of Finance?
Please, Gao Pragmatic is the cabinet elder. He has said it a long time ago that the way cabinet elders interfere in administration is often not to issue official letters, but to directly send private letters to relevant officials.
It's a private letter, not an official letter. I, Mr. Zhao, didn't check it for a while and actually lost it. But is this also a crime? Even if I'm guilty, at most it just shows that I don't respect Mr. Gao Ge enough. Can I go and apologize to Mr. Gao Ge myself?
You see, things have come to a standstill here. At this moment, unless the emperor insists that Gao Pragmatic lied and said that he certainly did not give such instructions, there is no evidence that can overturn Gao Pragmatic's rescue.
In this way, Zhao Zhigao knew very well that whether his son could be saved this time ultimately depended on Gao's pragmatic attitude. In this case, how can it be done without getting something in exchange?
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Thanks to book friend "Cao Mianzi" for your reward and support, thank you!
Thanks to book friends "Cao Mianzi", "klauszx", "book friends 20170515121333046", "traveling is difficult 0316", and "seamche" for their monthly ticket support, thank you!
ps: This chapter was written yesterday, and there will be at least one more chapter today. Because although the child was still taking online classes, his mother took him to the office, so I temporarily checked.
