OBS Chapter 381 Old Deng Doesn't Have Martial Morality
Chapter 381 Old Deng Doesn't Have Martial Morality
Seeing the Emperor Zhu's slightly surprised expression, Li Shanchang felt much more at ease.
Zhu Chongba, Zhu Chongba, so even you have moments of confusion and disorientation!
Separation of powers?
If it were two years ago, if you, Zhu Chongba, wanted to take some power from me, I would have suspected that you, Zhu Chongba, were planning to discard me after I had served my purpose.
As for now?
Minutes!
Go ahead and divide it!
If you take a portion of the power from me, I will not only not doubt you, but I will also think you have a conscience.
It's just a mere power; if I were to cling to it even a little, I wouldn't be Li Shanchang!
Sitting next to Li Shanchang, Liu Bowen was also in a good mood.
Offend?
joke!
As long as the Censorate and the Audit Office can send all those bastards who are after my entire family to sell salted duck eggs, what does it matter if I offend a few people?
Looking at the smiles on Li Shanchang and Liu Bowen's faces, Emperor Zhu suddenly felt a sense of unease, as if these two old men had picked up the wrong script.
After a long silence, Emperor Zhu finally spoke, "Since Brother Shan and Mr. Qingtian have both agreed, shall we give it a try?"
Li Shanchang nodded without hesitation and replied, "Your Majesty, I believe we can try it first. However, reforming the system is no small matter. Perhaps we should start with Ningyang County and Dengzhou Prefecture?"
Liu Bowen, who had just been in agreement with Li Shanchang, said without hesitation, "Your Majesty, I believe that the reform should begin in the court, starting with the Censorate, the Court of Judicial Review, and the Ministry of Justice."
Li Shanchang snorted and said, "Brother Qingtian is too impatient. The reform involves many things, and in just over a month it will be spring plowing and spring taboo. If it starts directly from the court, the local areas will have to do it at the same time, and it is inevitable that mistakes will be made in the rush."
Liu Bowen retorted without hesitation: "If we are to start reforming the system at the local level, the worst place to start is Ningyang County and Dengzhou Prefecture, unless we separate Dengzhou Prefecture from Shandong Province, or start reforming the entire Shandong Province."
Seeing Li Shanchang and Liu Bowen arguing directly, Emperor Zhu also began to secretly consider where he should start reforming the system.
It is clear that Li Shanchang was seeking stability; he wanted to see the actual effects of the reforms before altering the structure of the court.
Liu Bowen, on the other hand, was relatively more radical. He preferred to take advantage of this opportunity to directly investigate the blank seal case.
What about yourself?
Emperor Zhu turned his gaze to the "family letter" on the table, pondered for a moment, and then suddenly interrupted Li Shanchang and Liu Bowen's argument: "Brother Shanchang, Mr. Qingtian, we can discuss the reform slowly. Right now, the more important thing is how to solve the blank seal case."
Liu Bowen said without hesitation, "Your Majesty, I believe we can use the case of the blank seal to promote reforms."
"The first step is to select some people who are good at arithmetic from various departments to form an auditing office."
"The second step was for the newly established auditing office, the reorganized censorate, and the inspectors to go to each prefecture and county to take stock of their county treasuries and to audit and examine the blank-printed money and grain registers."
"The third step is for the Dali Temple to hear the case, and the Ministry of Justice to review it and revise the Ming Code accordingly."
If Yang Shaofeng were here, he'd probably ask Liu Bowen if he was planning to put an elephant in a refrigerator.
Li Shanchang was unaware of the refrigerator reference, so he simply snorted and said, "Your Majesty, I agree with Mr. Qingtian's first and second steps, but the third step should not be handled by the Dali Temple alone. At the very least, the three judicial departments should conduct a joint trial, with the inspector and eunuchs in attendance."
After a slight pause, Li Shanchang added, "However, this will delay the blank seal case for a long time, and it may not be able to be fully investigated even in a year or two."
There are more than 600 officials involved in the blank seal case, and the number of assistant officials and clerks is unknown. In addition, the gentry involved may have to be questioned. The number of people involved in the case may be as many as three to five thousand.
Then the problem is coming.
The total number of personnel that the three judicial departments can mobilize is limited. Even if the inspector and the Yingtian Prefecture can help with the trials, how many cases can they handle in a day?
If we review ten people a day, it would take a whole year to review more than three thousand people.
This is assuming no other unexpected situations arise in the process.
The entire Ming Dynasty consisted of twelve provinces, one hundred and twenty prefectures, one hundred and eighty states, plus eight hundred and eighty-seven counties, three pacification commissions, and one chief commission. How could it be possible to avoid any unexpected situations within a year?
Besides, there's still Yang the Madman in Dengzhou Prefecture. Who knows when he might suddenly have a fit and cause another mess like the Plow Case or the Sun Gupu Rebellion Case?
If we really calculate it that way, the Empty Seal Case that broke out in the third year of Hongwu's reign might not have a result until the fifth or even sixth year of Hongwu's reign.
My goodness, the imperial court still has to spend money to support those officials for several years.
Let me do the math. If each person eats half a pound of rice a day, then three thousand people would eat 1,500 pounds of rice a day. That would amount to hundreds of thousands of pounds of rice a year.
The Ming Dynasty's treasury is now empty; perhaps we should just try them all and execute them one by one.
Even if you can save just one kilogram of rice a day, it adds up to several hundred kilograms a year.
However, just as Li Shanchang was pondering how to save more money and grain, Emperor Zhu suddenly said, "A case involving blank seals is already dragging on for a long time, perhaps from the third year of Hongwu to the sixth year. What if another case involving blank seals occurs?"
Li Shanchang was startled. Emperor Zhu continued, "Brother Shanchang, please change it. We know you want to play it safe, but what if we have another case like the Blank Seal Case?"
Emperor Zhu's tone gradually turned cold: "If the Ordnance Bureau can catch fire, who can guarantee they won't repeat the Blank Seal Case?"
……
Yang Shaofeng was completely dumbfounded.
The sixteenth day of the first month of the fourth year of the Hongwu reign.
Having just finished celebrating the Lantern Festival with Jin'er and Yu'er, and before Yang Shaofeng could even return to Dengzhou Prefecture, an official document from the Secretariat was delivered to Ningyang County.
The Central Secretariat was restructured.
The Censorate was restructured.
The Dali Temple underwent restructuring.
The provinces were abolished and replaced by the Provincial Administration Commissions. The Provincial Judicial Commissions and the Provincial Military Commissions were also established. The power originally held by the Provincial Councilors was divided into three parts, and from then on, the people were truly separated from the people, the law from the law, and the military from the military.
In addition, prefectural-level government offices were also affected, as a prefecture would also need to establish two subordinate offices, the Censorate and the Court of Judicial Review, as well as an auditing office.
In other words, the prefectural governor, like the provincial councilor, had some of his power delegated to him, and he also had an additional person in charge of auditing and supervising accounts.
Yang Shaofeng didn't care about that; in fact, he was eager for someone to take away the power to adjudicate cases.
The problem is that Zhu Chongba, that old tyrant, doesn't have any martial ethics.
No, it should be that old scoundrel Li Shanchang also lacked martial ethics.
The official document issued by the Secretariat to Dengzhou Prefecture specifically noted that the Censorate, the Court of Judicial Review, and the Audit Office would not be established in Dengzhou Prefecture for the time being.
Moreover, Old Deng wrote another letter home, saying, "We said before that you could do whatever you wanted in Dengzhou Prefecture, so go ahead and do whatever you want, we'll back you up."
So?
Next, I will have to go to Dengzhou Prefecture to work like a slave, taking care of all the official and miscellaneous affairs of the entire Dengzhou Prefecture.
Spring plowing in the fourth year of the Hongwu reign.
The prefectural examination in the fourth year of the Hongwu reign.
There is also the planting of fruit trees.
Audit the accounts of each county below.
Cases that the county couldn't resolve were sent to the prefectural government.
Is it all going to fall on my shoulders alone?