In autumn, the drought in the north finally improved, and several autumn rains soaked the long-dried land.
The sweet rain falls, and the whole world celebrates.
This is the most severe drought year since Ju Ming traveled through time, and some state capitals even had no harvest!
As a result, some areas were pulled out of the case, and the emperor specifically ordered not to arrest people for the time being, allowing local officials to make meritorious deeds through disaster relief. As long as the disaster relief was effective, and the stolen goods and fines were refunded afterwards, they would be given a lighter punishment.
Of course, you can arrest people and re-assign officials, but firstly it takes time for new officials to take office, and secondly, changes in officials will affect the efficiency of disaster relief.
In late autumn, the disaster completely subsided, and the first batch of criminals were sentenced.
Min Zishun, who actively returned the stolen goods, was still sentenced to death because his problems were too big.
When this guy was managing the treasury and warehouse, he took advantage of the severe drought in the northwest for several consecutive years and colluded with the local civil and military officials to embezzle a lot of money and food for disaster relief.
Disaster relief money and food!
army!
Min Zishun touched both of the two things that he shouldn't have touched.
The main problem of the army was the Cao Army, which was responsible for transportation on some sections of the road. One Cao Army commander and four Cao Army commanders were all arrested and sentenced to death.
In comparison, Min Zishun's affairs in the official department were nothing.
For the sake of old friendship, Ju Ming stepped in and changed the beheading to hanging, leaving a whole body for Min Zishun.
"Kill! Kill! Kill..."
At the execution ground, countless people screamed.
They have heard that the main crime of the criminals executed today was embezzling food for disaster relief.
Those waiting in line to be executed were not only officials but also businessmen.
The merchant is responsible for selling stolen goods.
Not only did they sell stolen goods, but they also helped to replace rice and wheat with cheaper corn, sorghum and other products.
After all, the court has strict inspections and cannot really cause a famine. When corruption occurs, enough food must be transported there.
Min Zishun knelt on the execution platform, listening to the shouts one after another and looking at the indignant people in the distance. He was in a trance, as if he had had a big dream.
I have been dreaming about it for the past few years, and now I finally woke up.
In fact, Min Zishun really didn't take much of the embezzled disaster relief money and food, and he didn't even know about it at the beginning.
At first, when he was serving as the left minister of the Ministry of Civil Affairs, he illegally promoted relatives and friends, hoping to cultivate his direct lineage.
And it was a bit too hasty. Some people did not have enough qualifications and political achievements. In fact, they would have reached the standard after three to five years, but he still promoted them. In order to achieve his goal, he even collaborated with the doctor of the merit examination department to secretly modify the political achievements of those officials.
The initiator of the embezzlement of disaster relief money and food was a confidant of Qian Chen, and this person was also an anonymous disciple of Zhu Guoxiang.
At that time, Qian Chen had already become a cabinet minister, and his confidant was transferred to Cangchang. The two of them had little work overlap, and they only visited each other during the holidays.
Min Zishun was transferred to Cangchang as the top leader and became Qian Chen's confidant boss.
When Min Zishun sensed something was wrong, he discovered that his nephew had been involved.
His nephew was a group of Min clan members who collectively joined forces and became officials after Ju Ming took over Sichuan. Coupled with Min Zishun's deliberate promotion, he became a member of the Shanxi Provincial Government who specializes in civil affairs.
Qian Chen's confidants were in the treasury canchang, Min Zishun's nephew was in Shanxi, and in the middle there was a commander of the water transport capital from Daming Village.
Three people conspired to embezzle disaster relief money and food!
If Min Zishun reported it immediately after finding out, even if he brought up the old affairs of the Ministry of Personnel, Ju Ming would definitely not punish him severely. At most, he would be demoted two or three levels, and he would not be allowed to hold the position of the Ministry of Personnel again in the future.
But Min Zishun thought too much at the time.
He was not only afraid of being demoted, but also wanted to save his nephew, and he was also afraid of offending Qian Chen and Zhang Guangdao. Because the other two accomplices were one from Qian Chen and the other from Zhang Guangdao.
Therefore, Min Zishun chose to turn a blind eye and quietly ordered them to stop.
He thought those guys would just give up when things got better, but instead they expanded the scope of corruption, quickly spreading from Shanxi to Shaanxi, and more and more officials were dragged into the trap.
Moreover, in order to silence Min Zishun, those corrupt officials secretly hunted his wife and children.
Min Zishun’s wife and children all received heavy gifts from corrupt officials!
When Min Zishun realized that it was impossible to recover, he simply broke the jar and smashed it, hoping that the court would not find out. Anyway, the amount of relief grain directly withheld was not much, and the main purpose was to replace refined grain with coarse grain, so that the victims would not really starve to death.
"When Min Zishun was serving as the left minister of the Ministry of Civil Affairs, he collaborated with the ministers of the examination department and the literary selection department to tamper with officials' performance and promote officials in violation of regulations... When he served as the assistant minister of Cangchang of the Ministry of household affairs, he collaborated with civil and military officials to deduct money and food for disaster relief... he should be executed according to the law...
…Because you actively returned the stolen goods, the execution was changed to hanging, leaving the whole body intact…Can you plead guilty?”
Faced with the questioning of the prison officer, Min Zishun answered with difficulty: "Plead guilty."
"The identity of the prisoner has been verified, and the prisoner has accepted his guilt. Execution!"
Hanging in ancient China was generally applied to relatives of the emperor and the state. Although the process was far more painful than beheading, it allowed the whole body to be preserved for the final dignity.
If the prisoners were given the choice, most would prefer to keep a whole body.
Two executioners came forward.
One person covered Min Zishun's head with a black cloth bag to prevent his death from being too ugly. This was also a unique dignity of hanging.
Another person tied Min Zishun to the execution column while kneeling to prevent him from struggling in pain during the hanging.
Hanging is really hanging.
The two executioners each held a long wooden stick, and the centers of the two wooden sticks were tied together with a rope. The rope also had two strands, clamping the prisoner's neck.
The executioner twisted the wooden stick in opposite directions, and the two ropes gradually tightened each other, eventually suffocating the condemned prisoner to death.
Compared to beheading, the process is extremely painful.
Min Zishun struggled and twisted with all his strength, but because he was tied to the execution column, he could not move at all.
Finally, it stopped moving completely.
"Bring the next one over here!"
That person was Qian Chen's confidant Han Song. He was born as a small official in Xicheng County, Jinzhou. He had already helped manage money and food when he was in Hanzhong, and he also worked as a knife and pen official under Zhu Guoxiang.
Even as early as Hanzhong, Han Song had already started to commit corruption, but it was just a small matter that was not investigated at the time.
Han Song was forced to kneel down, and when he saw Min Zishun's body being carried away, he collapsed on the spot and couldn't kneel straight at all.
Li Hanzhang, Qian Chen, Ling Guxu and others left the execution ground silently at this moment.
They have a good relationship with Min Zishun, and today they are here to see old Min off for the last time. Moreover, it was Ju Ming who asked them to come, so there is no warning.
Li Hanzhang and Qian Chen were lucky. The former was the first Minister of the Ministry of Personnel and the latter was the first Minister of the Ministry of Hubu.
These are all positions that are very easy to get recruited for.
However, they were transferred to the cabinet early, had no involvement in specific affairs, and strictly restrained their families. Even if they had done something in the past, the court also drew a time line, and they would not be held accountable as long as they did not do it again in the future.
Therefore, even if they have countless disciples and former officials, as long as they are not found to be involved in power-for-money transactions, they will not be involved in various cases.
Several of their gang members were arrested this time!
Both Li Hanzhang and Qian Chen had their third division officers reduced, which was considered a disciplinary warning to them.
Qian Chen turned around and took a last look. Han Song, who was about to be beheaded, was his confidant.
"This guy dares to touch the disaster relief food. He deserves to be damned!" Qian Chen said through gritted teeth.
Li Hanzhang didn't want to talk about this kind of thing, so he said in a low mood: "Go to my house for a drink. After this drink, you will have a good time attending to business tomorrow. Don't let such things disturb your mood again."
Qian Chen shook his head: "I'll drink it another day."
Ling Guxu and others also said goodbye. Several of their old friends would be executed today.
Everyone returned to the city by car, and when passing by the bookstore, they heard a clerk standing at the door of the bookstore selling: "Da Ming Yue Bao, Da Ming Yue Bao. The Di newspaper that only officials could read in the past can now be bought and read by everyone."
. Fifty-five cents a piece is not worth three meals a day, but you can know the major events in the world..."
Prices in the capital are expensive. If you eat three meals a day, you will really need forty or fifty cash. No matter how frugal you are, it will still cost you twenty or thirty cash.
If you look at it this way, selling a newspaper for fifty-five cents is really not expensive.
If the circulation is increased in the future, the cost can continue to decrease.
There were free newspapers to read in the yamen. Li Hanzhang and others did not buy them, but many ordinary people were attracted.
Today is a holiday, and students are also on holiday. There are many scholars wandering around the bookstore street.
To be continued...