Imperial Master of the Ming Dynasty

Zheng Ci left these words and quickly left the West Flower Hall, while Chen Ying, Ma Jing and others continued to drink tea.

Li Qing was also a smart man. When he saw this, he quickly stood up and said to everyone: "I'm going to the room to get something."

After he finished speaking, he left in a hurry without looking back. He didn't know whether he really went to the Criminal Department's room to get something or if he slipped away.

Everyone was dumbfounded. No one expected that Li Qing ran away too!

However, the departure of Zheng Ci and Li Qing did not affect the work of the Three Laws Division.

Li Qing chased Zheng Ci and ran all the way to a secluded area in the backyard of the government office. The two closed the door.

As soon as they met, Li Qing asked: "Why is the minister absent? I'm afraid it will be difficult for Your Majesty to explain."

Li Qing caught up with Zheng Ci because he was puzzled by his behavior, but Zheng Ci smiled bitterly and said to Li Qing: "Now things are in trouble. I have to think carefully before I find a secluded place. Why are you following me?"

Li Qing is a typical professional bureaucrat. All he thinks about is judicial matters. He hasn't seen it through yet: "Ministry, at worst, we can give Li Zhigang a light sentence or just acquit him. What's the trouble?"

"Now it's not just a matter of whether to judge, but how to judge."

Zheng Ci frowned and said, "I originally wanted to give Li Zhigang a try, not to mention rounding or flattening him, but also making it difficult for him. After all, His Majesty also meant this before. But today, when the Imperial Master appears as an imperial envoy, I always Something feels wrong.”

"What's wrong? Is it because the Imperial Master is helping Li Zhigang get away with it?"

"No."

Zheng Ci was the best at figuring out the emperor's thoughts. At this time, he was keenly aware that after the emperor asked the three law divisions to unify their opinions, some changes that he didn't know about might have happened. Such changes were most likely caused by the guidance of the imperial master. Come.

At the same time, the news of the new Shenfa Temple has been kept strictly confidential and has not yet been revealed.

Zheng Ci pondered his thoughts and said to Li Qing, "Let me ask you, does it take the Imperial Master to come in person to get Li Zhigang off the hook?"

Li Qing was stunned for a moment and said: "Of course it's not necessary."

Yes, if we just want Li Zhigang to be exonerated, there is no need for Jiang Xinghuo to take care of it himself. He can just tell Chen Ying and Yu Qian.

"So since the Imperial Preceptor is here and is so well prepared, he must have other purposes. Then think about it again, if the Imperial Preceptor is not here for Li Zhigang's matter, why is he here? What purpose does he want to achieve through Li Zhigang's case? ?”

Zheng Ciming was asking Li Qing on the surface, but in fact he was asking himself.

"The loophole in the "Da Ming Law"!" Li Qing suddenly exclaimed in a low voice.

Li Qing said anxiously: "Not to mention anything else, just the matter of divorcing one's wife is a huge loophole in the Ming Law. Although it is now an open secret that relatives of princes, nobles and high-ranking officials run businesses, the king's consort The son of Cao Guogong. But in any case, this is illegal. Once Li Zhigang's case is made public, I am afraid that everyone will do this in the future and prepare a divorce letter at home, and then the "Da Ming Law" will be in name only. ”

As mentioned before, Jiang Xinghuo's way of getting into the bug was to take advantage of the fact that there is no need to go through the government to divorce his wife. As long as there is a divorce letter, the two of them are no longer husband and wife. If one of the relatives of one of them continues to run a business, it naturally does not violate the Ming Dynasty. "Law".

And if one person does this kind of thing, countless others will naturally follow suit.

In fact, Jiang Xinghuo was using an imperial edict to blatantly trample on the "Law of the Ming Dynasty".

What does Jiang Xinghuo want to do?

——Of course we need to change the "Da Ming Law"!

Li Qing could not imagine that if a peerless talent like Jiang Xinghuo, who had not been seen for hundreds of years, devoted all his attention to exploring the loopholes of the "Da Ming Law", the entire current legal system based on the "Da Ming Law" would be How it was breached.

And the most important thing is that there is nothing they can do against Jiang Xinghuo.

Obviously, this was Jiang Xinghuo's counterattack.

Since the Ministry of Punishment did not agree to amend the Salt Law, Tea Law and other provisions under the current legal system of the "Da Ming Code", Jiang Xinghuo simply used Li Zhigang's case to demonstrate his ability to smash the entire "Da Ming Code" system.

Li Qing thought for a while and then said: "I think the intention of the Imperial Master's move is to promote the revision of the Ming Law and use this to change the Salt Law."

"good."

Zheng Ci smiled bitterly and said: "This is Xiangzhuang's sword dance, intended for Pei Gong!"

The Li Zhigang case is just a sword in Jiang Xinghuo's hand. If the Ministry of Punishment is still unwilling to compromise or give in, then even if the Li Zhigang case is closed, I am afraid that there will be endless troubles ahead.

After thinking about this clearly, Zheng Ci couldn't help but have a headache.

Now Zheng Ci is under a lot of pressure. You know, if he is a minister like Ma Jing or Li Qing, he can naturally put the interests of the Ministry of Justice first. But as he is the Minister of the Ministry of Justice, he has to figure out and obey the emperor's wishes. , to withstand the pressure from the highest level of the empire, naturally he cannot go against the emperor, but he cannot completely ignore and sacrifice the interests of his department. This has resulted in the current situation where Zheng Ci is in a dilemma and is forced to run away.

"What should we do? Should we agree? Should we agree immediately or after a stalemate? If we agree, can we get some exchange conditions? If there is a stalemate, can we explain to those people the difficulties of our Criminal Department?"

Li Qing's series of questions made Zheng Ci's scalp tingle.

The so-called "those people" naturally refer to the salt merchants who were powerful and ubiquitous in the Ming Dynasty.

The open-center method has been implemented for so many years, and it has completely bred a bunch of monsters.

The Ministry of Punishment is the area hardest hit by salt merchants' corruption. Who from top to bottom has not received gifts from salt merchants, either publicly or privately? This kind of gift is not necessarily material. It may also be various conveniences provided to one's elders, descendants, hometown, etc., rather than to oneself.

"Let's talk about these things first. Let's settle the case at hand first."

Zheng Ci's heart was in a mess, he raised his hand and rubbed his forehead and said.

"Let me tell you whether Li Zhigang was unjustly accused."

Zheng Ci could escape from the toilet, but Li Qing came out to get something. He had to go back and continue to participate in the three-chamber trial. At this time, Zheng Ci would naturally have to decide the attitude of the Ministry of Punishments. He would then go back and report to Ma Jing, who was in charge of the trial on Zheng Ci's behalf. To be honest, Li Qing cannot make this decision for Zheng Ci, and he will definitely not take the blame.

Zheng Ci snorted coldly: "Does this need to be said? Someone must have framed him. If Li Zhigang is really corrupt and bribery, can there be no real evidence?"

Looking at Li Qing's eyes, Zheng Ci held his stomach and said angrily: "You still want me to set up a letter for you? Don't worry, that's it. I don't want to see Li Zhigang succeed as a villain, and I won't participate in the future. Yes, please tell Ma Jing what I mean."

The three-court trial continues.

This time, except for Zheng Ci, no one was left behind, but they were all here.

But Ma Jing did not sit in the main seat. Instead, he changed places with Chen Ying.

Logically speaking, as Zheng Ci's deputy, his rank is higher than that of Chen Ying. He should sit in the main position and be on an equal footing with Chen Ying. In any case, he is also a senior official of the third rank, but he did not do so.

Obviously, after Li Qing and Ma Jing had their anger, the Ministry of Punishment had reached a compromise on the Li Zhigang case and no longer planned to continue to entangle.

Chen Ying was the one who made the decision. In the second half of the three-party trial, the outcome was actually uneventful.

Ma Jing's face was a little gloomy.

He originally thought that this trial would be very simple, and that he would be able to force Li Zhigang to surrender without even using too many words. At the very least, he would receive a light sentence rather than acquittal.

In this case, he could also respond to Jiang Xinghuo's previous pressure.

The reason is simple. Since Jiang Xinghuo is unwilling to give up amending the Salt Law at the expense of the Ministry of Punishment's verdict that Li Zhigang is not guilty, then the Ministry of Punishment will naturally convict Li Zhigang within the tolerance of the emperor.

No matter what the crime is, embezzling money is also a crime.

But it wasn't until now that Ma Jing realized that he was too naive.

This Imperial Master is not as gentle and gentle as he appears on the surface.

Otherwise, how could he directly help Li Zhigang escape the crime so quickly and accurately, and also hit a major loophole in the "Ming Dynasty Law"?

Ma Jing had heard before that how intelligent the Imperial Master was, but he had never learned about it, because the business scope of the Criminal Department rarely had anything to do with Jiang Xinghuo, but now it seemed that other colleagues were right.

Playing with intelligence within the rules, even senior bureaucrats like them, who have been practicing law for who knows how many years, are unable to fight back against Jiang Xinghuo.

Because at this time, the "Da Ming Law" was not a weapon in their hands, but a cage that bound them.

Ma Jing couldn't help but frown slightly when he thought of this, and thought to himself: Is there really nothing we can do?

After this idea came up, Ma Jing suddenly became flustered. Many thoughts flooded into his mind, constantly impacting his brain and making him dizzy.

At the same time, Jiang Xinghuo, who was sitting on the side, seemed to be looking at Ma Jing intentionally or unintentionally.

The Li Zhigang case is just the beginning.

Jiang Xinghuo's purpose is to use this case as a typical case for revising the "Da Ming Code".

If the Ming Law is not revised, not only will officials and relatives doing business in the future be able to imitate the legal loopholes Jiang Xinghuo found, but more trouble will come later.

No one can stop Jiang Xinghuo from changing his ways.

As a letter was handed to the hands of the three court officials, Li Zhigang's originally calm heart gradually became excited.

He glanced at Jiang Xinghuo gratefully.

Li Zhigang knew very well that based on his usual level of non-compliance with Zheng Ci and those from the Ministry of Punishment, these people were definitely going to mess with him. Without Jiang Xinghuo's help, he would definitely not be able to successfully pass the test.

As long as he passes this level and the Ming army defeats and dismembers Annan, he can take office as the Chief Envoy of the Chief Envoy of Cochin. When the sky is high and the emperor is far away, it will be a real enjoyment at the level of a local emperor. What do you want? How to enjoy happiness is much more comfortable than wasting your mind in court.

The content written on the document is not exactly the same as before.

Today is the second time the class has been held, and there must be a result.

In fact, since they cannot convict Li Zhigang through "relatives doing business", they do not have any charges of Li Zhigang directly accepting bribes and abusing his power, so there is not much controversy at the moment.

After the three officials communicated for the last time, the reading began.

"The core of this case is whether Li Zhigang's relatives are in business. The evidence submitted by Jinyiwei shows that although Li Zhigang and his wife divorced because they had no children, they had been together for many years and had a deep relationship. They could not bear to abandon his wife and leave him without food and clothing, so they rented a house. Compensating for work such as cleaning and sweeping does not violate the relevant provisions of the Ming Dynasty Code.

In addition, Li Zhigang's former father-in-law did sell antiques that were too high when he was in business, and after evaluation, they were far from the market price. However, there was no evidence that he had any connection with Li Zhigang. He was only ordered to stabilize prices and not sell antiques at obviously unreasonable prices. "

An investigation by the Sanfa Department confirmed that Li Zhigang, the former Minister of Rites, was not suspected of accepting bribes and there was no evidence of abuse of power during his tenure. The evidence in this case is insufficient to support the conviction of Li Zhigang on the charges he was previously accused of. In view of the major involvement and wide-ranging impact of this case, the results of the joint trial of the three judicial divisions will be published in Ming Pao. "

After the verdict was announced, Jiang Xinghuo put down the thick notes in his hand and was the first to stand up and said, "Congratulations, Mr. Li."

Immediately afterwards, many mid-level officials who participated in the joint trial of the three departments also congratulated Li Zhigang.

Looking at the two ministers from the Criminal Department, Jiang Xinghuo also smiled.

Jiang Xinghuo is not worried that there will be any big mistakes if he takes over the reform of the salt law.

Because the outcome of the "Li Zhigang Case" is destined to become a landmark event in the judicial reform of the Ming Dynasty.

There are many loopholes in the "Da Ming Law". If the Ministry of Punishment insists on not changing the Salt Law, then the problems they will face in the future will be much more troublesome than insisting on this matter. After all, there are always loopholes in the law. Now If they are not allowed to add amendments, and the Ministry of Punishment takes the ancestral precepts of Emperor Taizu Gao and insists that no one can change it, then he will be the one to suffer in the end.

Therefore, Jiang Xinghuo concluded that after Li Zhigang was released, the Criminal Department had no cards left, and the initiative was now in his hands.

You can slowly put pressure on the Ministry of Punishment and promote the reform of the judicial system in the Ming Dynasty.

At the same time, Zhu Di's use of establishing the Shenfa Temple to decentralize power would obviously make the Ministry of Punishment give up resistance sooner or later.

Once the "Da Ming Law" is promoted to become the Tianxian, and the Tianxian can be revised regularly, and supplemented by regulations and laws, then he will have a basis for many subsequent reform actions.

After all, this is all done in accordance with the "Da Ming Law" system.

If the name is not correct, the words will not be correct.

What Jiang Xinghuo has to do now is to correct this "name".

——————

After Li Zhigang was acquitted, the whole city of Nanjing was in an uproar. No one expected that Li Zhigang's case would be ended so neatly, and well-informed officials knew that the National Advisor was planning the matter from beginning to end.

To put it bluntly, this is a temple struggle between the reformists and the Ministry of Punishment, which insists on not changing the law.

Li Zhigang was involved in the last temple fight from the beginning, and at best he was treated as a target, but now he has turned around.

Jiang Xinghuo's method of breaking the situation seemed very strange, but he was also smart. The method he adopted was very special, that is, he directly found loopholes in the "Law of the Ming Dynasty". As a result, many officials consciously prepared a letter of resignation at home. book in case of emergencies.

The scalp of Sanfa Division is about to burst. If everyone does this, the "Da Ming Law" will be ruined in the future.

And that's not even the end of the story.

Immediately afterwards, the case in which Wang Shijie, the prefect of Yangzhou, was prosecuted by a businessman, was also disclosed.

Wang Shijie was single-handedly promoted by Jiang Xinghuo from his position as a co-president of Changzhou Prefecture. Of course Jiang Xinghuo had to fight back.

Moreover, the major salt merchant groups, which are like monsters raised by the Kaizhong Law, are the driving forces behind the obstruction of the reform of the Salt Law. Whether it is the lack of cooperation from the Ministry of Punishment or the prosecution against Wang Shijie, they are all superficial.

However, the role played by the remaining members of the Bao Zhao Party was negligible.

Although Mao Dafang is still at large, in the eyes of the upper echelons of the Ming Empire, he is just a clown who will be caught sooner or later. If the fishing fails this time, he can be caught next time.

Soon, a crackdown on salt merchants began.

The Huanghuai Chief Envoy Department and the officials from various places in southern Zhili received orders at the same time to investigate the illegal sale of salt.

You don’t know if you don’t check it, but you will be shocked if you check it. I have to say that the profits of the private salt business are really high and a bit scary.

Zhu Di was furious after learning the amount of money. He immediately ordered the Metropolitan Procuratorate to thoroughly investigate the criminal evidence of the salt merchants involved in smuggling. At the same time, he sent Jin Yiwei to pursue it all the way. Once officials involved in the illegal salt trafficking case were found, they would be arrested immediately!

After this vigorous and resolute operation, in less than ten days, nearly twenty officials from the Nanzhili and Huanghuai Chief Envoys were arrested, including many core figures who were transferred to the Salt Envoys' Yamen.

According to the official system of the Ming Dynasty, those responsible for salt administration were mainly responsible for the Salt Envoy Department, which was basically located in coastal areas, that is, Lianghuai, Liangzhejiang, Changlu, Hedong, Shandong, and Fujian. There are also branches that are responsible for each major salt field. Each major salt field has a salt section ambassador who is specifically responsible for salt mining and other matters.

At the same time, in non-coastal areas, that is, inland salt wells, black salt wells, white salt wells, Anning wells, Wujing and other salt class lifting departments are set up, and decoction salt lifting departments are set up in Liaodong, whether it is salt class lifting departments or decoction salt The Tiju Division has a different name, but in essence, its responsibilities are the same as those of the Salt Transport Division.

In order to supervise these salt administration yamen, the central government established a salt inspection censor.

However, judging from the arrested officials in this operation, it is obvious that the Salt Patrol Censor has been severely corroded and is somewhat unusable.

As for the remaining officials with problems in the Yanzheng Yamen, although they have not been found out for the time being, they have become frightened and panicked for a while. The salt envoys were transferred to various places. Everyone was in danger for a while, and many officials were even ready to leave.

For salt merchants, this is also a blow from the blue.

I have mentioned before that under the Ming Dynasty's Kaizhong Law system, the Jinyiwei and the Metropolitan Procuratorate caught illegal salt sellers. In fact, the salt was extracted from the salt farms in Lianghuai and Liangzhe. They were all official salt and were introduced by salt. of.

The problem is that so much salt cannot be used within the Yanyin sales area, and it cannot be sold at a high price. Therefore, in order to maximize profits, salt merchants must sell these official salts to other places. .

Once these official salts leave the sales scope, they become private salts.

Of the private salt that was confiscated this time, salt that was originally official salt accounted for most of the share. This money was not only the income of the Salt Administration Office, but also an important fund for the salt merchants to maintain their own interests. The Salt Administration The yamen can make a lot of profits every year, and the salt merchants live a very prosperous life, relying on this illegal cross-border transportation of official salt.

The salt industry is a huge profit industry, and selling private salt is even more huge profits, but not everyone can afford it. In the salt industry yamen, unless there are top salt merchants like Hui merchants and Shanxi merchants, ordinary salt Shang, if he did not have an absolutely certain relationship with the transportation route, he would not be able to survive the corrosion over the years.

Even Huai merchants, as landowners, only have the ability to dominate the Huaihe River. Once they leave their nest, their influence drops directly to the second-rate level, far behind Hui merchants, Shanxi merchants, and even Shaanxi merchants and Guangdong merchants. No.

After all, the Yanzheng Yamen distributes salt every year and strictly controls the amount of salt merchants can pick up.

However, as the Yanzheng Yamen was raided, the salt merchants who had gained power due to the Salt Transport Yamen almost completely collapsed. Many salt merchants were trying to find ways to escape and temporarily avoid the limelight. Even the veteran officials in the officialdom were fleeing with their money. This caused the entire Yanzheng Yamen to wail.

And when officials are confiscated, a bunch of moths and scum will naturally be involved.

Some of these people made a fortune by participating in the sale of illegal salt, while others made profits by reselling salt.

As soon as the Yanzheng Yamen case was reported to Nanjing, it immediately caused shock in both the government and the public.

Moreover, there is an immediate trend of expansion.

Ji Gang personally led the arrest team, but in just two days, seven or eight officials were arrested, including fourth- and fifth-grade officials.

This move directly shocked the civil and military officials of the Manchu Dynasty, and also frightened the officials of the Ministry of Punishment.

Zheng Ci, the Minister of Punishment, summoned Ma Jing, the left minister, and Li Qing, the right minister, to have dinner and discuss together that night, and the content of the discussion was naturally how to deal with the aftermath.

After all, the Ministry of Punishment is actually the department most involved with the salt merchants, and in this operation, all the new faces from the Metropolitan Procuratorate and the pro-military Jin Yiwei under the direct command of the emperor were dispatched. The Ministry of Punishment was not involved at all. This is undoubtedly a matter. An extremely abnormal thing.

According to usual practice, the officials involved in the case must first be escorted back to the Ministry of Punishment to await their punishment. However, this year, so many officials in the Yanzheng Yamen had their homes confiscated and were sent directly to the Jinyiwei Prison. This caught the officials of the Ministry of Punishment a bit off guard.

"The Yamen of the Lianghuai Province Salt Transport Envoy has been sealed off, but there are many people involved here. If it were normal, we would definitely have to be careful when dealing with these people, but now, alas."

Zheng Ci was sulking while drinking.

Li Zhigang is fine, something is wrong with him.

Although according to His Majesty the Emperor's attitude towards him, he should be able to pass the test smoothly this time, this feeling of anxiety is always unpleasant.

Ma Jing was sweating on his forehead at this time. He asked cautiously: "We are doing things as usual. This time the problem is not big, right?"

Zheng Ci and Li Qing confiscated some salt merchants' money, and at most collected some unquantifiable interests, but Ma Jing's house could not be cleaned.

Li Qing frowned and said: "Jin Youzi has become the young minister of Shenfa Temple. His Majesty obviously wants to separate the legislative power of the Ming Dynasty Law from the hands of the Ministry of Punishment. Coupled with the salt affairs, the Salt Law must be changed. ”

Zheng Ci put down his wine glass and said coldly: "I finally figured it out. Our punishment department has too much power and too little power. It's like a child carrying gold. How can we not attract people to covet us? What's more, we are still carrying gold to block it. Other people’s ways.”

"What does Shangshu mean?"

Although he asked this question, Ma Jing still didn't understand that legislative power is "gold" and salt law is "Tao".

But Ma Jing still couldn't help but ask: "How should the salt merchant deal with it?"

"You don't have time to take care of yourself, why do you care about what others do?" Li Qing couldn't help but feel speechless. "Since the National Master's target is them, let them die. Do you want to use your arms as a chariot and get run over in the road?"

"Jin obediently offered his hands, got out of the way, and lived well, wouldn't you?"