Su He sent someone to inform Li Zhisheng that he had been promoted to county magistrate.
Su He was thinking about county system reform in his study.
Now we are breaking the tradition that imperial power does not go to the countryside, and power goes directly to the countryside.
Some functions of county government have been replaced by township governments.
In particular, the power of the county magistrate is too concentrated. He can mobilize troops, arrest and judge, and can also decide the promotion of everyone in the county government.
The county magistrate is equivalent to the local emperor. As long as he does not offend his superiors, he has no scruples.
Without checks and balances, power will inevitably become unscrupulous, and only the local people will suffer.
Su He first stripped off the judicial power of the county magistrate, and gave the power of arresting prisoners to the patrol inspector, and the power of hearing cases to the newly established punishment department.
The promotion of county officials is no longer decided by the county magistrate, but is appointed and dismissed by his superior, now the commander-in-chief.
The county magistrate can only manage township chiefs and village chiefs, and nominate the chief officials of various yamen in the county.
The adjustment of the county system has greatly weakened the authority of the county magistrate and provided the magistrate with checks and balances.
Early the next morning, the new magistrate Li Zhisheng came to the commander's office to report on his work.
When Su He saw him, he first praised him: "You did a great job in cleaning up the bad habits in the countryside in such a short time.
I have asked people to promote your experience to the whole county. "
Su He then explained to Li Zhisheng his reformed county system.
"Your future work will mainly be to manage the county and villages, improve water conservancy, collect taxes and recruit troops.
County towns should develop more handicraft industries, and rural areas should continue to change customs and promote land lending. "
"I understand, Commander Su, and he will definitely do his job well." Li Zhisheng assured immediately.
"Xianxing is responsible for trial cases, but I haven't recruited qualified talents.
If you know someone you can recommend to me. "
Li Zhisheng said goodbye and was about to go out. Su He thought that he had not recruited Xing Xing yet, so he asked Li Zhisheng to help find him.
…
Li Zhisheng wore his newly made county magistrate clothes to visit his old friend.
He looked at the envious and frightened eyes of passers-by, and he was extremely excited.
Unexpectedly, he would become a county magistrate one day.
When he received the news, he thought it was a dream.
It was certain that no one was entertaining him, as he didn't sleep the whole night.
Su He asked him to recommend someone who was familiar with prisons, and he immediately thought of his friend Wu Donglin.
Li Zhisheng came to Wu Donglin's house and saw him grinding wheat.
"Brother Donglin, my uncle is a widower in the county. Now that he is ill in bed, I can only ask you to come out.
Would you like to join me in serving as the Commander-in-Chief, responsible for handling cases and sentencing?
If you are willing, I can recommend you to Commander Su. "
Li Zhisheng stepped forward to help Wu Donglin push the stone mill and asked his opinion.
Wu Donglin glanced at Li Zhisheng, then lowered his head and continued to grind, thinking for a long time and sighing.
"Brother Zhisheng, look at you wearing the official uniform of a county magistrate and becoming the head of a county.
It is impossible to say that I am not envious. But the day before yesterday, the Tongcheng Mansion recruited officials, and I didn’t even answer the call.
I'll be honest with you, this official is not doing his job well, and he might one day..."
Li Zhisheng understood what Wu Donglin meant. If they served as officials for the rebels, one day the government troops might come and kill them.
“Brother Donglin, think about it, if you weren’t an official in the Commander’s Office, you would be like this.
Can we become officials in the Ming Dynasty? Can our descendants really pass the imperial examination?
Just like me, wouldn’t it be possible for me to pass the exam as a scholar based on my true talent and practical knowledge?
We all know that the places for scholars have been allocated. Only by joining a big boss as a student can you be admitted as a scholar.
But those people looked down upon our origins and did not accept children from our family at all.
You don’t think about yourself, but you also think about the future generations of your family.
You have also worked in the county government. Just talk about the level of corruption and incompetence of the officials in the Ming Dynasty. Did they have the strength to wipe out the rebels? "
Wu Donglin stopped grinding, turned to look at Li Zhisheng and asked: "Brother Zhisheng, the punishment is an official in the Song Dynasty. He is mainly responsible for raising sentences and inspecting officials.
The punishment you mentioned is mainly to deal with something. Let me see if I can bear it. "
Li Zhisheng saw his friend relenting and introduced him to the official position of punishment.
Inspections are responsible for investigating cases and collecting evidence, and criminals are tried based on the evidence collected during inspections.
"Isn't this the job of the former county magistrate? I am not doing this to weaken your authority."
After Wu Donglin heard the introduction, he asked quite unexpectedly.
"That's right, Commander Su said that in the past, county magistrates often made confused decisions and confused cases.
Leave professional matters to professionals.
The main job of the county magistrate is to manage the county seat and the villages under his jurisdiction. "
Li Zhisheng just heard the news, and he also felt that some of his rights had been deprived.
But if you think about it carefully, it doesn't matter. He doesn't know how to examine cases in the first place, so these tasks must be left to others.
Wu Donglin accepted the invitation from his friend, met Su He in person, and officially took up the post after an inspection.
He collected county government files and visited victims.
Deal with the backlog of county government cases as soon as possible.
Guilty verdict, innocent acquittal.
It was obvious at a glance that it was an unjust case, and the prisoner was immediately released and sent home.
The victim's family did not flee the city, the criminal chain was complete, and the sentence was directly followed according to the law.
The law currently used by Wu Donglin is mainly the Ming law that has been deleted by Su He, which only contains common criminal clauses.
Wu Donglin handled all these cases in only two days.
The rest are all difficult and miscellaneous cases, and the records in the files are vague.
No one can understand these cases.
He couldn't take charge of the trial of this kind of case, so he could only go to the Commander's Mansion to find Commander Su.
Wu Donglin waited in line for a long time and finally saw Su He.
He briefly describes the problems he encountered.
"Commander Su, I have dealt with most of the backlog of cases, and the owners of the remaining cases cannot be found or there are no files.
I don't know how to handle this kind of case. "
"It just so happens that I'm going to the prison too. I'll take you with me."
Su He and Wu Donglin went to Dalao.
On the carriage, Su He explained the trial methods of difficult cases.
“Cases related to the gentry are biased towards the prisoners.
As long as the prisoner's statement is flawless and proves that he is not guilty, he can be released directly.
Cases related to the common people are biased towards the common people.
Misdemeanors can be sentenced lightly, but serious crimes can be sentenced severely even if there is no file. "
After Wu Donglin heard what Su He said, he understood the key points of the sentencing.
The carriage arrived at a very large yard in the west of the city. This was a new prison cell, with inspectors standing guard with knives.
Wu Donglin went to interrogate the prisoner.
When Su Yan saw Su He, he immediately came over to greet her.
"Commander Su, the new prison cell in the county has been renovated."
Su Yan led the way and took Su He to visit the cell.
This is a large factory with separate dormitories and the windows are sealed with iron bars.
This is a prison cell mainly dedicated to reform-through-labor. There are different cells for light and serious criminals, and the work of reform-through-labor is also different.
“We must not treat prisoners in labor camps like the subordinate officials of the Ming Dynasty, who tortured prisoners in prison without paying them.
This is all good labor, and many dangerous jobs in the future will depend on them.
If you raise livestock at home, you have to brush them every day and feed them some good food.
These people can be used as livestock, but they must be taken care of. "
"Commander Su, please rest assured, we can rely entirely on the labor reform factory for the welfare of our inspections.
No one will ruin the jobs of brothers. "Su Yan assured confidently.
The items produced in the labor reform factories are purchased by the commanding government and are much cheaper than the market price, but their costs are low and they can make a lot of money.
Su He saw Su Yan's statement that he was quite satisfied with the system he designed.
Only when there is sufficient profit motivation can people work seriously and responsibly.
Su He also visited the prisoners' workplace and food, and he was very satisfied.
"Commander Su, there is a special prisoner. I don't know how to judge him, but he insists on seeing you."
Wu Donglin ran over wiping the sweat from his head.
