Chapter 283 Zheng Guoben (5) The feeling of licking a calf
Zhao Zhigao took the initiative to come to Shen Yiguan, and his original intention was two-fold: first, being pragmatic can never be defeated, and instead of working in vain on this matter, it is better to use your energy to do something within your ability; second, Emperor Zheng
The imperial concubine will not fall, and the fact that she will not fall can be used now to get Shen Yiguan out of the current trouble.
These two levels of meaning can be further refined. For example, the first level of meaning: High pragmatism cannot defeat you. So what should the Xin School transfer its energy to to be meaningful? In addition, should there be a dispute over the basis of the country?
Continue?
Let’s put the first question aside for now, and the answer to the second question may be a little surprising. The answer is: yes. However, this “yes” is not that simple.
After Zhao Zhigao came out of the palace, he set off back to his home. As soon as he got off his green sedan chair, the housekeeper reported that Section Chief Zhong had been waiting for him for a long time.
"Yeah." Zhao Zhigao didn't know whether he was really tired or he always cherished words like gold at home. In short, he didn't say much and went straight to the study.
As soon as they entered the study room, everyone in the engineering department immediately stood up to say hello to Zhong Zhaodou: "Student Zhaodou, I have met the teacher."
After "teacher", you can take "adult". After all, as the old saying goes, once you are a teacher, you will always be a father.
"You're here, okay, okay, sit down and talk." Although Zhao Zhigao said so, Zhong Zhaodou naturally would not sit down now. Instead, he stepped forward to help the Prime Minister sit down first, and then sat back down respectfully.
in position.
Zhao Zhigao coughed twice, and then asked: "How is the inquiry going?"
Zhong Zhaodou sighed, shook his head slightly, and said in a rather serious tone: "Master, the situation may not be good, the student will ask first..."
"To make a long story short, I'm a little tired." Zhao Zhigao waved his hands slightly.
"Uh... yes." Zhong Zhaodou was temporarily interrupted, and he organized his words a little before continuing: "The general situation is that only the Ministry of Punishment is relatively confident, and there are too many Gao Rixin in the Metropolitan Procuratorate.
Not to mention the fact that the current chief minister of Dali Temple, Wang Liantang, is not only the same year as Gao Rixin, but also one of the teachers of his eldest son, Gao Yuan."
Zhao Zhigao did not answer immediately. There was silence in the study, except for the breathing sounds of teacher Zhao Ge and his apprentice.
After a long while, Zhao Zhigao said, "What is your opinion?"
Zhong Zhaodou seemed to have expected this question from his teacher, and immediately said: "Brother Shi's actions are not for his own selfishness. Now that he is being criticized, how can I, the Xinxue school, turn a blind eye? We must take measures to rescue him."
Therefore, even if there is some exchange with Gao Rixin, the students think it is reasonable."
It turns out that what they were talking about had nothing to do with the emperor coughing up blood or the dispute over the country's foundation, but the impeachment of Zhao Zhigao's son Zhao Fengwei. What happened to Zhao Fengwei? He collected more than 70,000 taels of salt in Huai'an.
The tax was not recorded and reported.
Zhao Fengwei was the deputy transport envoy to the Huaihe River and Huaihe River at that time, and belonged to the Salt Transport Envoy Department of the Lianghuai Capital. This department was in charge of the salt administration of the two Huaihe Rivers and had three divisions: Taizhou, Huai'an, and Tongzhou. The transport envoy of the capital was assigned to the third rank; Tongzhi, from the third rank.
The fourth rank; deputy envoys, from the fifth rank, each have one person. Below there are judges, from the sixth rank, there is no fixed number. In addition, there are the experience department, the governor, each salt department, salt warehouse, batch laboratory ambassador, deputy
Assign equal rank.
There are two "deputy envoys" here, but the latter one is not popular and is generally referred to as the "deputy envoy with experience in the Salt Academy". Zhao Zhigao's son Zhao Fengwei is not this one, but the former one, which is equivalent to the three transfer envoys of the Salt Division in the Huaihe River.
handle.
Generally speaking, the position of the third-in-command in a unit is quite embarrassing, but the Salt Institute is different. Among the three divisions under the Lianghuai Salt Transfer Department, Huai'an is the largest, strongest, and richest - this is actually very
Good judgment. There are three divisions. Taizhou and Tongzhou are both prefectures, and Huai'an is a prefecture. The territory alone is much larger.
Precisely because of the importance of Huai'an, the deputy envoys of the Salt Institute were generally not stationed in Yangzhou, where the Salt Institute was located, but in Huai'an. This created an opportunity for the deputy envoys to dominate the sky in Huai'an.
As for the 70,000 taels of silver, Zhong Zhaodou said that Zhao Fengwei "brother's actions were not for personal gain." This really did not absolve Zhao Fengwei of his guilt, because although he did impose an additional 70,000 taels of silver, he personally paid back the money.
Really, not a penny was taken from it, and it was all given to the Heart School for "public use".
Not long ago, among the huge sum of money transferred to the capital by "civilians" of the Xin School, the 70,000 taels provided by Zhao Fengwei were included, but it was only in the name of other people.
However, Zhao Fengwei is not completely unjust, because although the money he provided was not for personal enrichment, it was a political investment. Once the plan set by the Xin School at that time was successful, he would definitely have to take a share of the credit in the end.
If you are an ordinary person, if your political investment fails, you must bear the responsibility for what you have done. However, Zhao Fengwei is not an ordinary person. Although he is only a fifth-level junior, he cannot bear to have a pavilion father! How could Zhao Zhigao do it?
Watching your son lose his job because of the "private tax on salt"?
So, after Wang Jiaping told the emperor about the incident in person on the afternoon of the day he coughed up blood, Zhao Zhigao immediately began to look for a solution.
If this matter did not become a big deal, Zhao Zhigao, with his status, would have the opportunity to find a solution in private. But if it had become a big deal, even to the point of impeachment by the censor, the bullets would be sent to the chief minister.
, then it will be difficult to eliminate it invisible through secret methods, and it can only be solved through formal procedures.
Of course, this kind of problem is not as serious as someone "intending to kill the king", so there is no need to trouble Dongchang and Jinyiwei, but the process is still quite complicated, and each of the three law departments needs to intervene.
Of course, according to what Zhong Zhaodou just said, the biggest problem Zhao Zhigao faced was obviously in Dali Temple - after all, the chief minister of Dali Temple was written by Wang Tingzhuan, who was the same year as Gao Jingshi. He was ranked No. 3 at the time, only No. 1, Gao Jingshi, and second.
After Xiao Liangyou.
Dali Temple has long been a judicial institution. It was called Tingwei during the Qin and Han Dynasties, and was officially renamed Dali Temple during the Northern Qi Dynasty. The functions of Dali Temple in different periods were different. In the Tang and Song Dynasties, it was equivalent to the Supreme People's Court in later generations, responsible for the central officials and influence
National political cases also have the right to retry local cases.
However, during the Ming Dynasty, Dali Temple had no judicial power and was only responsible for the review of cases.
I mentioned before when I introduced Ting Tui that the "Nine Ministers" of the Ming Dynasty refer to the top leaders of the six ministries, the Metropolitan Inspectorate, the General Affairs Department and the Dali Temple. It can be seen that the status of the Dali Temple is not bad. Specifically, the three law departments
The division of labor means that the Ministry of Punishment has the power of trial, the Metropolitan Procuratorate has the power of picketing, and the Dali Temple has the power of review.
"The three law departments are the Japanese Punishment Department, the Metropolitan Procuratorate, and the Dali Temple. The Punishment Department receives the name of punishment from all over the world, the Metropolitan Procuratorate inspects it, and the Dali Temple refutes it."
Generally speaking, the Ministry of Punishment makes civil sentences, and the Metropolitan Procuratorate specializes in impeaching officials, but both must send the verdict after the verdict to Dali Temple for review. Dali Temple also has different powers depending on the size of the case.
For example, in a simple civil case, the local magistrate sentenced a civilian to be spanked. In such cases, the buttocks have been spanked first, and will be reported by the magistrate to superiors such as prefects, and then reported level by level, and finally summarized.
Go to Dali Temple. Dali Temple will only keep a file of this kind of eucalyptus, and will not interfere with it in boredom.
The other category is apprenticeship, exile, migration, and military exile. That is, local people are sentenced to exile, imprisonment, or military exile. Such sentences must be reported to the Ministry of Punishment for approval before they can be executed. The Dali Temple will analyze and determine whether it is reasonable and whether the evidence is valid after the fact.
If it is sufficient, the case can be sent back to the local government for retrial - but it should be noted that Dali Temple cannot overturn the decision and can only send the case back to the original department;
Then there is the death penalty. For this kind of crime, as long as Dali Temple does not agree, the death penalty cannot be executed - of course, the final decision-maker of the death penalty is the emperor. If the emperor says to kill, then Dali Temple can't do anything. In this case, the cabinet can only reject the imperial edict.
Only then can it be stopped in theory.
As for the general death penalty, the Dali Temple will analyze the testimonies and analyze whether the official's decision is reasonable. If it is reasonable, it will be reported to the cabinet, which will vote on it and give it to the emperor. The ceremonial supervisor will then approve it and send it back. Dali Temple will read it again and think it is okay.
This way the following can be executed.
If Dali Temple feels that there are doubts about the case, it will return the original judgment to the place of judgment and order the officials to retry it. Of course, most of the original judgment officials will continue to maintain their judgment results. If Dali Temple still feels that the judgment is wrong, it will
Designate another institution (or official) at the same level for trial, usually an institution at the same level, such as the magistrate of Linxian County, the magistrate of Linxian County, etc.
The Ming Dynasty usually sentenced the death penalty to "five times." That is, if a county magistrate sentenced a commoner to death and reported it to the superior, the superior would order a retrial five times. In many cases, the magistrate at the same level and the superior would order a retrial.
The prefect, the procuratorate, and even the Procuratorate and the Ministry of Punishment sent people to re-examine the case.
Of course, death row prisoners will also be sent to provincial prisons or prisons of the Ministry of Punishment, and in most cases these death row prisoners will die in prison - well, this is because the Ming Dynasty was very cautious about the death penalty, even a little too cautious, which led to the death penalty
The sentence will be very long. Often when Dali Temple really understands the death penalty and reports it, it will encounter Liu Zhong, that is, the emperor accepted the memorial but received no response, and then the prisoner died due to being in jail for a long time.
As for the Metropolitan Procuratorate, Dali Temple generally has less control. Because the officials impeached by the Metropolitan Procuratorate are really not in charge of junior officials, but if they are senior officials, they will have to go to all three judicial departments. Sometimes it depends on the case itself.
In this case, Jinyiwei and even Dongchang may also be added.
And if it is a high-ranking official, or a big one that shocks the whole country, the emperor will let all six ministers and nine ministers take over - this is called Yuan Shen, which is basically the highest level.
Zhao Fengwei's private salt tax of 70,000 taels obviously has not yet reached the point of requiring full review, but 70,000 taels of silver is by no means a small amount in the Ming Dynasty, and although the Lianghuai deputy transport envoy is not high-ranking, his position is important.
There is a high probability that the case will require a joint trial by the three agencies.
The Ministry of Punishment is always under the control of Shen, and although the current Shangshu of the Ministry of Punishment, Sun Piyang, is from Fuping, Shaanxi, he is one of the few powerful officials from Beibang who is not from the Real School. This means that the Ministry of Punishment is the territory of the Xin School, not the Xin School.
Too influenced by high pragmatism.
The Metropolitan Procuratorate is a special yamen. Although its top leader, Zuodu Censor, leads the entire Metropolitan Procuratorate, the various censors in the Metropolitan Procuratorate are only led by Zuodu Censor, but they do not need to be responsible to Zuodu Censor—
—They were directly responsible to the emperor.
What does this mean? It means that the Zuodu Censor often does not represent the entire Metropolitan Procuratorate in a specific case, and each Censor can express his or her opinions according to his or her own ideas.
Therefore, the Metropolitan Procuratorate will not be completely controlled by a certain force. Most of the time, various factions will go to the Metropolitan Procuratorate to recruit people. Eventually, several faction circles will be formed within the Metropolitan Procuratorate. If anything happens to the court, they will be affected.
It takes a long time to argue within the Procuratorate.
Of course, now that the pragmatic school is gaining momentum, and there are more censors in the Imperial Palace who are on the pragmatic side, the Xinxue school is at a disadvantage. And under the current circumstances, Xiao Daheng, the censor of Zuodu, who was born in Shandong, is the general constitution
Always standing on the side of high pragmatism makes it even more difficult for the Xin School to rely on the Metropolitan Procuratorate in critical matters.
Therefore, under the current circumstances, Zhao Zhigao judged that this situation is very likely to form:
Wang Jiaping received the impeachment and voted to approve the investigation, and Zhu Pi agreed. Soon after, the Ministry of Punishment believed that there was insufficient evidence that Zhao Fengwei was corrupt, reported the evidence, and requested that the investigation be withdrawn. Then, the Metropolitan Procuratorate believed that the Ministry of Punishment was sheer nonsense, and asked the Ministry of Punishment to continue the investigation, and
It is required that local prosecutors participate in the investigation and form a "joint investigation team" with the Ministry of Punishment.
Afterwards, the Ministry of Punishment insisted on its original view, while the Metropolitan Procuratorate firmly rejected it. Nanjing (Huai'an Salt Affairs was under the jurisdiction of Nanjing) and the local governor realized that the matter was of great importance, so they expressed an ambiguous position.
This chapter is not finished yet, please click on the next page to continue reading the exciting content! As a result, the Metropolitan Procuratorate and the Ministry of Criminal Affairs couldn't argue, and each sent the case to Dali Temple, and Dali Temple judged whether in-depth investigation was needed before a trial.
Therefore, whether this matter ultimately needs to be tried, except for the situation where the emperor cannot restrain himself and takes the initiative to intervene in advance, there is a high probability that the judgment of Dali Temple will determine whether to succeed.
In other words, the person who can really decide whether Zhao Fengwei's private salt tax of 70,000 taels is true or not is actually Wang Tingzhuan - of course, that is equivalent to being highly pragmatic.
In addition, there is another very critical issue. Zhao Zhigao knows very well that Gao Pragmatic can not only decide "this case is established", he even has the ability to conclude in one sentence "this case is not established".
Why is this? Because on the day Wang Jiaping mentioned this matter, Zhao Zhigao said on the spot: "The Lianghuai Transportation Department is under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of Household Affairs, and the dog is no more than a deputy envoy. How could he do such a thing under the supervision of the Ministry of Household Affairs?"
What happened?"
In other words, as long as the Ministry of Household Affairs jumps out and says: The additional levy of this amount of money was approved by our Ministry of Household Affairs in advance. Then the whole thing will completely change direction, and all Zhao Fengwei's actions will be endorsed and become reasonable.
legitimate.
But the problem is, why does Gao Pragmatic want to help? You know, Hu Bu jumped out to take the pot at this time. The pot is also a bit hot, which does not mean that Hu Bu can take the pot without changing his expression or heart.
If Gao Pragmatic wants to take over this pot, he can definitely do it, but he will definitely find some other way. For example, he suddenly said that because the Ministry of Tobacco might have to go on an expedition to Japan after the Korean War, he had given the Huaihe Transport Envoy
A certain amount of "free additional tax quota" is intended to meet the possible demand for Japanese tax collection.
Obviously, later on, because the emperor recalled Gao Pangshi to the capital, the expedition to Japan was not to say aborted, but at least delayed. However, the Lianghuai Transport Envoy did not receive the news, or perhaps received the news but did not realize that it meant that the expedition to Japan was cancelled.
Therefore, Zhao Fengwei, who was actively concerned about state affairs, still carried out the instruction to impose an additional salt tax of 70,000 taels in Huai'an.
The whole thing has been completely dealt with at this point. What, you said you should take a look at the instructions from the Ministry of Accounts?
Please, Gao Pragmatic is the cabinet minister. He has said it a long time ago that the way cabinet ministers interfere in administration is often not to issue official letters, but to directly send private letters to relevant officials.
It's a private letter, not an official letter. I, Mr. Zhao, didn't check it for a while and actually lost it. But is this also a crime? Even if it is guilty, at most it just shows lack of respect for Mr. Gao Ge. I will go and apologize to Mr. Gao Ge.
Is it okay to apologize?
You see, things have come to a standstill here. At this moment, unless the emperor insists that Gao Pragmatic lied and said that he definitely did not give such instructions, there is no evidence that can overturn Gao Pragmatic's rescue.
In this way, Zhao Zhigao knew very well that whether his son could be saved this time ultimately depended on Gao's pragmatic attitude. In this case, how could he do it without giving something in exchange?
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ps: This chapter was written yesterday, and there will be at least one more chapter today. Because although my child was still taking online classes, his mother took him to the office, so I temporarily edited it.
