On the 16th day of the first lunar month of the tenth year of Wanli, the Portuguese mission spent the Lantern Festival in Hangzhou, which was full of lights and flowers and lasted until night. They all had dark circles under their eyes and yawned nonstop before taking a boat to the north. At this time, the city of Hangzhou was one of the top big cities in the world - with a population of 2.91 million. Where had these Portuguese country bumpkins seen such prosperity?
On the way out of Hangzhou, the Portuguese mission unexpectedly saw two groups of people beating gongs and drums and presenting a plaque with the words "Bright as water, clear as mirror" to the prefect's Yamen.
Ines complained again: "If all the judges in Lisbon can get such honors as the magistrates in Hangzhou, then..." However, he did not continue for a long time, but his envy was beyond words.
Since Matteo Ricci entered China, his ability level has improved rapidly. He thought there must be something fishy, so he asked an interpreter familiar with Chinese in the mission to find out. The interpreter came back and said: "What I heard from them is that there is an extremely clean justice in the Ming Dynasty, and he will soon be stationed in this city. Therefore, the local magistrate here has recently concentrated on clearing up some cases."
Matteo Ricci spread his hands to Ines, indicating to him that this was the truth. Ines smiled and said: "Then please find a judge in Europe who can make the magistrate do this." Matteo Ricci was speechless.
Fan Li'an smiled and said: "My friends, everything we have seen has made me more curious about the young monarch of this empire. Let us leave quickly so that we can see him earlier."
...
The "extremely incorruptible judge" in the mouth of Hangzhou people is of course Hai Rui Haigangfeng.
After Hai Rui handled the Jiangnan Civil Rebellion in the third year of Wanli, he was promoted by the imperial court as the censor of the right capital of the Metropolitan Procuratorate. He also served as minister of Dali Temple in Nanjing and was responsible for establishing the imperial mobile court.
It should be said that this appointment is the best use of Hai Rui. Because his thoughts were too far ahead of the times, and he often "suppressed the rich and helped the poor" in his governance, although he could win the hearts of the people, in a society where the gentry was the dominant body, such political correctness was inconsistent with Zhu Yijun's reforms to develop industry and commerce. Goals are not met.
If he were given a noble and idle position, it would inevitably waste his superb legal skills and his reputation for being honest and self-reliant. Moreover, it would not be what Zhu Yijun wanted if Hai Rui became an opponent who always raised opinions.
Therefore, in the third year of Wanli, an imperial edict was issued to Nanjing, asking Hai Rui to prepare for the establishment of a circuit court in the Ming Dynasty to be responsible for the final adjudication of cases in various places. The establishment of the circuit court was a leap forward in the legal history of the Ming Dynasty. After receiving the appointment, Hai Rui was like a duck in water. Finally, in the last stage of his life, he burst out with the most brilliant glory of his career.
While Hai Rui is preparing to build a court, editing cases, and improving court rules and regulations, he also spends at least half of his time every year traveling around the country to review cases. Because he clearly understood everything and decided the case impartially, the name "Haiqingtian" became increasingly popular throughout the Ming Dynasty.
Booksellers in Jiangnan who were able to seize business opportunities compiled the strange lawsuits that Hai Rui had settled over the past few years into stories and sold various versions of "Hai Gong's Case" at a high price. Opera troupes from all over the country followed suit and put Hai Qingtian's image on the stage, which further contributed to Hai Rui's already rising reputation. By the tenth year of Wanli, an interesting phenomenon occurred across the country: Hai Rui became a living legend existing in literary and artistic works.
But what ordinary people who read these literary works don’t know is that the significance of Hai Rui’s existence is definitely not as simple as being a “Qingtian”. Through the amplifier of the circuit court, he turned his integrity into a dose of penicillin, which was injected into the Ming Dynasty that had already begun. A severely corrupted body.
Zhu Yijun chose Hai Rui, a strict and capable minister of Dali Temple, which made the circuit court the most upright judicial institution in the Ming Dynasty with the fewest unjust, false and wrong cases. By the end of the ninth year of Wanli, eight circuit courts had traveled a large circle in various provinces of the Ming Dynasty, correcting more than 6,800 unjust cases, settling more than 37,000 cases, and summarizing 1,430 typical cases. , and prompted the court to modify more than 150 specific provisions of the "Da Ming Code".
Out of considerations of checks and balances on judicial power, the emperor did not grant circuit courts the power to supervise officials in the process of correcting wrongful cases. However, every time a circuit court corrects a wrong case, it must transfer possible clues of corruption to the two Kyoto Metropolitan Prosecutor's Offices or the local prosecutor's office according to the official's administrative authority.
As for the clues transferred by the circuit court, the Metropolitan Procuratorate and the Procuratorate must give the emperor an explanation, and the corresponding report must be transferred to the circuit court for signature. In this way, a complete closed loop was formed in the case inspection work. Under Hai Rui's supervision, the evil spirits and monsters in each link of the closed loop were repeatedly eliminated.
Wherever the circuit courts went, a large number of unjust, false and erroneous cases were corrected, and corrupt officials related to them were brought to justice one after another by the ensuing prosecutors.
The effect was very significant. Starting from the seventh year of Wanli, the official administration of the Ming Dynasty was completely eliminated. The public dissatisfaction caused by a large number of unjust, false and wrong cases has been greatly alleviated, and the situation of "the government offices are open with eight characters, and no one can come in if they have a reason but no money" has also been greatly corrected.
Under Zhu Yijun's instruction, once a corrupt official is found out, major newspapers in both Beijing and Beijing will publish several articles to completely nail him to the pillar of shame. In a country where "filial piety" governs the country, such exposure is fatal to the person involved and is a real social death.
Later historians studied that the circuit court established by Hai Rui was not just a court, but an anti-corruption weapon in the hands of Zhu Yijun. Hai Rui was like a peerless magic weapon. Under its cold light, little bits of pure land appeared in the Ming Dynasty. Then these pure lands connected into one piece, and finally gave the people a bright and sunny day. Later sociologists also invented a word based on this, called the "Hai Rui effect."
At the beginning of the tenth year of Wanli, Hai Rui, who had spent the New Year at the Nanjing Circuit Court Headquarters, went out again. Hai Qingtian, who had white hair and beard, made his first stop in Hangzhou. Because of the winter of the tenth year of Wanli, Hangzhou had a heavy snowfall that was rare in history. A large number of Hangzhou citizens who still believe in the telepathy of heaven and humans are saying that a major injustice must have occurred in Hangzhou.
Hai Rui himself does not believe in the theory of telepathy between heaven and man. Although he is already seventy years old, he has always been able to keep up with the situation because he regards learning as an important principle of self-cultivation. Not only is he not a stubborn person who is stuck in the past, he is also a capable minister who keeps pace with the times. Hai Rui read every issue of the popular knowledge about investigative things in newspapers. Moreover, he kept up with the fashion and made newspaper clippings.
Although I don’t believe in the theory of divine inspiration, I respond to the people’s calls. Hai Rui originally planned to take the Third Circuit Court on a tour at the beginning of the tenth year of Wanli, so choosing Hangzhou as the first stop was just a coincidence. At the end of the ninth year of Wanli, the relevant documents were sent to the Zhejiang Chief Envoy to inform Mr. Hai. Next year’s first stop will be Hangzhou.
It didn't matter that he was just passing by. The governor's yamen, chief secretary, inspector and Hangzhou magistrate of Zhejiang Province, as well as all county officials, had not had a good Spring Festival and had been working overtime to review all judicial cases for the past three years. All types of documents within the jurisdiction of the Hai Rui Circuit Court have listed rectification items for self-examination.
According to Wu Shanyan, the governor of Zhejiang: "Although self-examination and self-correction may involve misconduct, at least try to have a good attitude in front of Mr. Hai! No matter who dares to fall off the chain, I will skin you!" Of course, Governor Wu It doesn't mean that you can't peel off anyone's skin. It means peeling off the official clothes of officials who have fallen off the chain. If a governor wants to consult his subordinates, it is best to consult them one by one.
After two consecutive months of careful preparation, Hangzhou finally reached the realm of Haiyanheqing. On the third day of February in the tenth year of Wanli, after I arrived at the circuit court in Hangzhou and put up the billboard, the door of the court was deserted.
At first, Hai Rui wondered if the Hangzhou local government had blocked the road to the court - a stupid local official had done this before, and some local officials arranged for people to "play out the lawsuit" in front of Hai Rui. He sent several groups of people out to check, but the feedback came back that everything was business as usual in Hangzhou. After asking around on the streets, the result was that around the Chinese New Year, all the backlogged cases in Zhejiang were decided and all judicial cases were reviewed again.
Hai Rui laughed dumbly and did not feel dissatisfied with the Chief Secretary of Zhejiang for doing this. Hai Rui felt that if he could make the sky clear wherever he passed during his lifetime, it would be the greatest compliment to him. Haigangfeng would die without regrets!
The next day, Hai Rui was preparing to transfer the letter to the next stop when the drum beat outside the door. The assistants who had been idle for two days all became energetic as if they had been anointed with magic oil, and introduced the drummer into the lobby.
The drummer was a half-year-old child. He held the certificate carefully and knelt down to kowtow as soon as he entered the lobby. Hai Rui asked someone to take the petition, and when he opened it, it turned out to be a murder case, and it was the first prosecution case!
Hai Rui helplessly held his forehead, and Wen Yan asked the boy in the hall how old he was and what his name was. Then he said to him: "I only accept cases that have been decided by Hangzhou Prefecture. You went to the wrong yamen. Moreover, the petition said that your father was killed in the wild. Didn't Qiantang County go to investigate? What did the county say? "
The child was shaking nervously at first, but when he saw that Hai Qingtian was very gentle to him, his nervousness subsided a lot. Suddenly he had the courage to say: "Let me tell you, sir, Qiantang County said it is an unsolved case, so we can only put it under suspicion for the time being and slowly solve the case. The person who gave me the petition also said that you can't accept my petition here, but he also asked me to come first. You are here."
As soon as he said this, Hai Rui became interested. Then he asked him: "Oh, why is this?"
The young man cried: "The person who wrote the petition said that the case of my father's murder must involve Governor Wu. Qiantang County and Hangzhou Prefecture dare not investigate, and I am afraid of being killed! But if I come to you first Click Mao, then the Hangzhou Prefecture will investigate if not, my life may be saved."
After hearing this, Hai Rui became suspicious and kept making calculations in his mind. According to the "Regulations of the Ming Circuit Court" drafted by himself, he absolutely cannot accept this case. But listening to what this young man said, if he didn't take this case, if this young man had any shortcomings, would he, Hai Gangfeng, regret it to death?
At his age now, he has already become a master of life. One look at this young man's expression and he knew that he was not lying at all. But the regulations he set have been made known to the world by the imperial court for a long time. Now that he has become an idol, how can he know the law and break it?
While he was hesitating, Wang Jieru, the guard next to him, came close and whispered: "Sir, you might as well send him out. I will follow him to see what is going on. If possible, I will also send the person who ordered him here." Find it out."
Wang Jieru was named after a woman, but he was a truly good man. He was originally an inner palace guard. Because Zhu Yijun was afraid that Hai Rui would offend too many people and suffer accidents, he specifically asked him to lead a team of inner guards to protect Hai Rui.
For more than three years, Wang Jieru was impressed by Hai Rui's charisma and tried her best to protect him, silently averting many murder attempts for Hai Rui. Hai Rui also had a high regard for this guard and was very caring and protective of him.
Hearing Wang Jieru say this, Hai Rui thought it was a solution that had the best of both worlds. He coughed lightly and said, "Well, since you have come here to see me, you can take this paper back. Go to Qiantang County or Hangzhou Prefecture, it's up to you."
The young man wiped his tears and nose, took the paper, knelt down and kowtowed twice. Without saying anything else, he stood up and left the lobby.
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