Zhai Ruwen said: "The previous dynasty treated scholars leniently, which resulted in many officials taking bribes. The new dynasty should indeed impose strict laws. However, the Ming Code is too strict and unreasonable."
"Take Xu Fuyan's three sons. They have not separated their families. The eldest son and the second son are both upright officials. Repeated investigations by the Supervisory Office and the Ministry of Punishment only found that they received some gifts. According to the "Da Ming Law",
The third son has committed a serious crime and is listed in the household registration book. The two honest brothers will also be exiled."
"I would like to ask the officials and the prince, exile two honest officials for no reason. Is this what a wise king should do?"
"If the laws are implemented in this way, the officialdom of the Ming Dynasty will be in turmoil, and even honest officials will be afraid of being implicated by their families. Will it have the opposite effect? No matter how good your political performance is, no matter how honest you are as an official, you may be executed and exiled.
Then he would just sit there and eat without food, or even enjoy himself through corruption."
"A good law should not force good people to become bad people!"
"Good laws should not make things difficult for law-abiding people."
“A good law must be reasonable and easy to implement.”
"Let's take the former Song Dynasty as an example. In order to prevent officials from exploiting the people, officials were not allowed to buy daily necessities inside and outside the city. If a county magistrate wanted to abide by the law, he could not even buy a writing brush in the county town. He had to send servants to the small town.
Shangmai. Who obeys such a law? May I ask His Highness the Crown Prince, did you obey this law when you were the prefect of the previous dynasty?"
Ju Ming did not answer immediately, and he also realized that there was a problem with the "Da Ming Law".
The imperial examination in the Song Dynasty was too childish, and there were many benefactors. There might be more than ten people in one clan serving as officials, but these people were accepted in the founding of the Ming Dynasty.
If a family is connected, once a major case occurs, it will cause turmoil in the officialdom of the country.
That's why Ju Ming revised the "Da Ming Code" and carried out joint sitting according to the household registration book.
Otherwise, Xu Fuyan and his two brothers are all officials, and their sons have eight rank officials. If a son who is not an official commits an offense and brings eight rank officials in, what is the difference between him and a tyrant? Scholars in the world
It would be weird not to make a fuss!
Now we have changed to sit together based on the household registration book, but we still have the same problem when it comes to major cases.
Xu Fuyan was a founding hero, and his two sons were also local officials. Neither father nor son were corrupt. Is it reasonable for them all to be implicated because of one bastard who had never been an official?
Even if the responsibility is investigated, Xu Fuyan himself will bear the responsibility, because the younger son is making money in the name of his father.
What does this have to do with Xu Fuyan's eldest son and second son, who are far away from the capital?
Ju Ming turned to look at his father.
Zhu Guoxiang said: "You decide for yourself."
Zhu Ming thought for a long time and said:
"Xu Fuyan, the Minister of Punishment, dismissed all his official positions, deprived him of his writing since birth, and took back the house and land he was given as a reward at the founding of the country."
"Xu Fuyan's little bastard son, behead him immediately!"
"According to the amount of stolen money revealed during the interrogation, a fine of five times will be imposed. The money will be paid by Xu Fuyan."
"Xu Fuyan's eldest son and second son were ordered to serve and return home. Their children and grandchildren can take the imperial examination. But the children and grandchildren of the younger son are not allowed to take the imperial examination for three generations!"
"Who has any objections?"
The ministers looked at each other, but they still felt that the punishment was too severe.
This is a Conglong hero at the level of minister. He can just be ordered to retire. To actually remove all official positions and deprive him of his birth certificate, it is simply merciless.
But no one raised any objection because the prince had already made concessions.
From the perspective of Xu Fuyan's eldest son and second son, they were really wronged. They worked diligently for the court and were not greedy for any money, but they lost their positions inexplicably.
As for Xu Fuyan himself, he deserves it. Who told him to be lax in raising his children?
Moreover, even the official seal of the Ministry of Punishments cannot be guarded well!
Xiao Chu asked: "What about the Xu family's verdict? What about the other prisoners?"
"Everyone will be treated like this," Zhu Ming stressed. "As long as one person in the same household registration register commits a serious crime, the rest will be dismissed from office. Even if the households have been divided and the son commits a felony, the father will be dismissed from office!"
The expressions of all the ministers softened a lot and they were no longer so worried.
After amending the "Da Ming Code" in this way, many fewer people will be exiled in this year's major cases.
In fact, there are still serious problems. For example, when the Ming Dynasty was in decline, an official named Wang Anshi started to reform. The "Da Ming Law" would become a tool of the conservatives. They tried every means to induce Wang Anshi's son to commit serious crimes, and then got Wang Anshi in accordance with the law.
Dismissal from office.
After curbing the corruption in the officialdom, the Ming Code will have to be changed in the future.
Except for serious crimes such as treason and treason, they cannot be imprisoned casually. If one person commits a crime and one person is responsible, he should be beheaded or exiled. If you are involved in random affairs, problems will arise.
"Let's talk about Li Bangyan again," Zhu Guoxiang said.
Ju Ming said: "His family is still different. His two sons in Beijing and several sons who are officials outside have all been found to have done evil. Those sons should be beheaded or exiled, and their families should also be punished.
They were exiled together."
"As for Li Bangyan himself, he was dismissed from all positions, all rewards were withdrawn, and his birth certificate was deprived. When his house was confiscated, he was left with 100,000 yuan, so that he and his wife could return to their hometown for retirement."
After hearing such a punishment, even those who had a grudge against Li Bangyan felt that Prince Zhu was too cold-blooded.
After all, Li Bangyan was considered a founding hero, but all his sons were beheaded or exiled. Except for Li Bangyan and his wife, the rest of his family also had to be exiled.
His official status was also stripped away, and there was no honor left.
What is the use of leaving 100,000 yuan for retirement?
Li Bangyan had embezzled at least one million guan during the Song Dynasty, but now his house was confiscated and only 100,000 guan were left. It was a true loss-making transaction!
Does Ju Ming favor military commanders?
Sun Li, who was thrown to Zhenyuan Fort, also had his property confiscated, but he was still able to lead troops in barbarian lands.
…
Xu Fuyan, who had waited impatiently for four months, finally received his punishment.
Hearing the words "deprived of his origin and writing," Xu Fuyan fainted. This was no different from being sentenced to death.
He didn't even dare to commit suicide because he still had luck in his heart.
Maybe in a few years, the prince will regain his original writing?
A few days later, the execution ground on the outskirts of Beijing.
Xu Fuyan seemed to have aged more than ten years. He sat in the carriage and could not get out, unable to bear to see the tragic scene of his youngest son being killed.
A servant rushed back from the execution ground: "Mr. sir, the executioner didn't dare to accept the money. He said he promised to give him a good time."
Xu Fuyan was stunned.
In the past two months, so many people have been beheaded, and the government's crackdown on corruption actually scared the executioners.
Li Bangyan, who was on the other side of the execution ground, not only did not give any money, but also shouted to the executioner: "These two unfilial sons, please don't let them die too quickly. Don't kill them with one knife, but chop them with more to keep their memory!"
"Li Bangyan, I will fight with you!" His wife was filled with grief and anger. She rushed up and pulled Li Bangyan's beard.
Li Bangyan pushed his wife away and wailed angrily: "My money, my house, and my farmland have all been lost to these two bastards. What's the point of leaving a hundred thousand yuan? Count all the real estate and shops.
, I have a total of two million balls! It’s gone, it’s all gone, what’s the point of living for me? Wuwuwuwu…”
Did you embezzle two million yuan in the previous dynasty?
The people who were watching the excitement around the execution ground looked at Li Bangyan with angry eyes. It was unknown how much support they had among them.
"Those two birdmen from the Li family, don't chop them to death with one knife, chop them with more chops!"
"It's a good job for the officials to steal. All the property of such corrupt officials should be confiscated, and not a penny should be left to them!"
"Kill the corrupt officials, kill the corrupt officials!"
"..."
Facing the shouts of the onlookers, the executioner actually obeyed the public opinion and chopped all Li Bangyan's sons to death twice.
Wang Chongyang had already entered the Imperial College at this time, and all the imperial students, including him, came to watch the execution. There were also students from the Imperial College and County College of Kaifeng Prefecture. The teachers brought the students to the execution ground. At this moment, everyone felt a chill in their necks.
The students were almost numb. This was the seventh group in the past few months, and they didn't know how many people the emperor and the prince wanted to kill.
Just last month, there was also an undercover case at the Ministry of Industry, which was revealed by local officials.
From the third-rank official to the unranked official, six people were executed, eleven were exiled, and many were imprisoned.
Last month, in the Ministry of Revenue, nine people were executed and 15 were exiled.
The previous month was the official department, four people were executed and twelve were exiled.
The above are only officials, and staff are not included.
All ministries fell into a state of paralysis for a short period of time, and officials were promoted quickly to supplement them, but they were unable to adapt to the new work quickly.
More than 20,000 field troops from the front lines in Shaanxi, Shanxi and Youzhou were transferred back to Kaifeng - so many civil and military officials were killed that Ju Ming was afraid that some would be forced to rebel!
All the royal family members of the former Song Dynasty were under house arrest.
Including Zhao Huan, who was already serving as an agricultural officer, was also ordered not to wander around to prevent anyone from using his name to cause trouble.
Even if Ju Ming agreed to amend the "Da Ming Code" and many people who were sentenced to consecutive exiles have been freed, there are still too many people involved in the case.
And, the more you check, the more you learn!
A large number of prefectural and county government offices have been shut down, and there is a shortage of officials and minor officials who cannot work at all.
Excluding those family members who were exempted from being sentenced together after the modification of the "Da Ming Law". Also excluding the minor offenders who paid fines and were exempted from jail because the cells were full. Currently, 1,274 people have been executed, 9,615 have been exiled, and 4,428 have been imprisoned (
Not all of them were officials, there were also many merchants and gentry who were surrendered.)
These are only the ones that have been decided, and a large number of cases are still being tried.
In all provinces, prefectures and counties across the country, officials are panic-stricken and cannot handle government affairs normally.
When everyone goes to work at the Yamen every day, the first thing they do is to read the Di newspaper. They slowly look through the newspaper to see which official has died again, mainly to see if there are any relatives of their own.
If he had not negotiated a truce with Jin Guo, Ju Ming would never dare to do this.
In order to reassure the officials, Ju Ming announced the revision of the "Da Ming Code" and notified the local authorities through official documents and official newspapers.
Which of these officials is not smart?
Many people have guessed the prince's intention, which is to kill a group of people in the founding of the country, clean up the country's officialdom, and correct the corrupt practices.
This year, the "Da Ming Code" was revised, and people were exiled or dismissed from office according to their household registration records.
After the official system improves, it is expected to be revised again. By then, one person will be responsible for the crime, and at most it will include parents, wives and children. Brothers should be fine.
The panicked officials finally felt a little relieved.