Emperor Zhengde

Chapter 291 The Law is Ruthless
The dark room made Wang Qiong feel extremely panicked. His panic came from the fact that he didn't know what the emperor was going to do to him.

"I confess, I admit that I accepted the favor of Nanjing Minister of Works Zhou Yong, so I intended to slander Luo Xiang to your majesty so that he could be transferred back. But I have never had any dealings with Eunuch Wei. I recommended him because I heard that Eunuch Wei's character is gentler than Eunuch Luo's, and he is willing to do things to make money. I just heard it, but I really don't have any intention of being disloyal!"

Wang Qiong started to sob as he spoke. He didn't know how many pairs of eyes were looking at him, so even though he was crying in this pitch-dark room, he could only cover his face and cry, he was extremely scared.

"Your Majesty has repeatedly issued strict orders that officials at all levels are not allowed to accept bribes. As the chief minister of the cabinet, why did you make this mistake? You should understand what the crime of accepting bribes is!" asked the man from the East Factory Inspectorate.

"I, I couldn't help it, but accepting charcoal and ice gifts has always been a common practice for officials in Beijing."

Wang Qiong wanted to say that some people from the East Factory Inspectorate had also accepted bribes, but he knew that if he said it now, the people from the East Factory Inspectorate would only kill him, so he didn't say it directly.

The officials of the East Factory Inspectorate also had mixed feelings at this moment. It was indeed common for officials in Beijing to accept gifts. Even some of them had accepted gifts. Although they were not considered poor and some even became wealthy by investing in businesses, there were naturally only a few who did not seek wealth while in their positions. Most people were greedy, even though the Ming Dynasty had strict laws against corruption.

Now, if Emperor Zhu Houzhao had not issued an edict asking them to investigate the Prime Minister Wang Qiong, they would not have taken the initiative to investigate Wang Qiong. After all, Wang Qiong, the Prime Minister of the Cabinet, was polite to his colleagues and a very kind person.

But now, Zhu Houzhao wanted to rectify the government and had already killed a group of Jinyiwei who were incompetent, broke the law and were not loyal enough. If these people from the East Factory Inspectorate did not abide by their duties and perform their responsibilities to maintain discipline, they would naturally be killed.

Because of this.

When interrogating Wang Qiong, they could not show any partiality.

Wang Qiong's questioning was soon over, and the only charge that could lead to a case against him was accepting bribes.

In front of the imperial power, Wang Qiong did not dare to hide anything and confessed all his problems very frankly.

then.

According to the current judicial system of the Ming Dynasty formulated by Zhu Houzhao, Wang Qiong was taken to the Censorate, which filed a case and sent a letter to the Ministry of Personnel to dismiss Wang Qiong from his post. The Ministry of Justice then tried and convicted him.

However, according to the laws of the Ming Dynasty, those who committed serious corruption and bribery would be beheaded and then skinned and stuffed with straw.

However, such treatment of a cabinet chief was unacceptable to many officials of the Ming Dynasty.

Although if a prince breaks the law, the common people will be punished the same way, but the Ming Dynasty is still a society ruled by one person after all.

Neither the literati nor the common people have a strong sense of the rule of law.

Of course, if Zhu Houzhao was not a time traveler, but just the emperor of this era, he would not have such a strong sense of law.

"Your Majesty, although Wang Qiong accepted bribes, he was ultimately a person of low moral character and selfish as an official. If he is really punished according to the laws of the Ming Dynasty, beheading him and skinning him, wouldn't that be too harsh? Moreover, Wang Qiong is a veteran of four dynasties, and has made great contributions. Isn't it a bit inhumane to be beheaded and skinned just for accepting bribes? Therefore, I have come to ask Your Majesty how to deal with him?"

At this time, the Minister of Justice Lin Jun had to ask Zhu Houzhao for instructions. He had no personal feelings for Wang Qiong, but as a Confucian official, he always believed in lenient punishment and cautious law. He did not think that a cabinet prime minister who had made contributions to the Ming Dynasty deserved to be beheaded and skinned and stuffed with straw because of corruption and bribery.

"What does the Ming Dynasty Law stipulate?" Zhu Houzhao only asked one question.

"Officials who accept bribes and pervert the law shall be caned with 70 strokes of the cane for every 5 strings of silver coins or less, up to 80 strings of silver coins being strangled; those who guard and steal money and grain from warehouses shall be caned with 80 strokes of the cane for every 5 strings of silver coins or less, up to 40 strings of silver coins being beheaded; officials who embezzle more than 60 taels of silver shall be beheaded in public and skinned alive."

The Minister of Justice Lin Jun replied.

"The Constitution has already clearly stipulated that all crimes must be dealt with according to the law, without any partiality!"

Zhu Houzhao knew that the officials of the Ministry of Justice could not sentence Wang Qiong, the chief minister of the cabinet who was also a civil servant, to beheading and skinning. In order to cultivate the legal awareness of Ming officials, he had to emphasize it again.

"Your Majesty, the laws of the Ming Dynasty are too harsh. I think they should be changed!" Lin Jun said.

"The Outline of the Constitution has stipulated that only the emperor has the power to change the laws or even establish new laws. In other words, I have the power to change them. However, if you want me to change them, you, Lin Jun, have to submit a memorial to the emperor to make suggestions," Zhu Houzhao said with a smile.

The Minister of Justice Lin Jun did not dare to submit a proposal, because that would be equivalent to him taking the lead in violating the ancestral system.

Seeing that Lin Jun stopped talking and was in a dilemma, Zhu Houzhao just smiled faintly. He believed that these officials in the court should have realized the importance of the legal system to a country by now, and should also realize the importance of legislative power to a country.

"I know you are worried that you will get a bad reputation for violating the ancestral system. Since you don't want to violate the ancestral system, there is no need to change the law. But I hope that you can understand through this incident whether the ancestral system or the law is more important!"

Zhu Houzhao said that he believed that Lin Jun and other court officials would gradually understand what legislative power and judicial power are.

"I will follow your majesty's instructions. I will take my leave!"

Lin Jun is indeed thinking about these things now. He now feels more and more strongly that His Majesty has been like a good teacher from beginning to end, teaching officials like himself how to correctly understand the Ming Empire and how to rule the Ming Empire. Therefore, His Majesty established the outline of the Constitution and stipulated the legislative power, judicial power, and executive power in the outline of the Constitution.

However, Lin Jun had to admit that the thoughts of his officials had not yet completely caught up with His Majesty's thoughts. They still had not consciously subdivided the power to rule the empire. They only instinctively believed that the world belonged to the emperor, and the lives and property of their officials and people were decided by His Majesty.

It was for this reason that he came to ask Emperor Zhu Houzhao for instructions, hoping that Emperor Zhu Houzhao would give Wang Qiong a lighter punishment.

However, Emperor Zhu Houzhao's behavior made Lin Jun realize that what he did was wrong, and the emperor could not give Wang Qiong a lighter punishment. Only when the law stipulated whether Wang Qiong should be given a lighter punishment could it be decided whether Wang Qiong should be given a lighter punishment.

Lin Jun had no choice but to follow the existing legal provisions. Because Wang Qiong accepted bribes amounting to 30,000 silver dollars, he was sentenced to beheading Wang Qiong and then skinning him and stuffing him with straw!
As soon as the news came out, public opinion was in an uproar.

Although the officials were afraid of Zhu Houzhao, they were not afraid of Lin Jun, so they began to blame Lin Jun, saying that Lin Jun was taking revenge for personal gain.

Censor Qiao Jin then submitted a memorial to the court, accusing Lin Jun of taking personal vengeance and punishing him too harshly. He requested that the court open a case against Lin Jun. He even received unanimous agreement from the Censor-in-Chief to the Chief Censor in the Censorate, and the case was finally brought before Zhu Houzhao.

But Zhu Houzhao was very depressed about this. He had explained countless times how the supervisory power of the Censorate should be used, but he did not expect that many officials of the Censorate still abused their supervisory power recklessly. He had to directly reprimand Qiao Jin in his memorial:
"Without any evidence, you impeached the Minister of Justice Lin Jun for seeking revenge. In addition, you said that Lin Jun's punishment was too harsh. You must also point out which law of the Ming Dynasty did not apply to his trial of Wang Qiong. If you dare to abuse your power like this again, I will dismiss you!"

The imperial examination system of the Ming Dynasty had not been completely abolished. There were still many scholars who received old-fashioned Confucian education who entered official careers through this path, and thus their awareness of the rule of law was still very weak. Qiao Jin was such an example, and Zhu Houzhao's reply taught him a lesson. When he received the reply, he was quite surprised. At first, he really wanted to look up the Ming Dynasty laws, but he found that Lin Jun was dealt with in full accordance with the law, and there was no such thing as too severe punishment. As for taking revenge, not to mention it, he, the censor, could not find any evidence.

Zhao Jian, the Minister of Dali Temple, also conducted a review. He found that he could not overturn Lin Jun's trial decision because it was a fact that Wang Qiong had embezzled and accepted bribes totaling more than 60 taels, and he could not find any reason to reject Lin Jun's trial decision.

But because of this, the empire's civil servants deeply realized the importance of changing the laws after this incident.

Originally, they did not take the law seriously. After all, doctors could not be punished. If the emperor did not pursue the matter, who would?

But the current emperor is a man who wants to rule the country by law. If he doesn't change the unreasonable laws, his officials will not have an easy life.

However, the legislative power lies in the hands of the emperor, and how to get the emperor to change the law is another problem that gives the imperial civil servants a headache.

"Gentlemen, the laws of the Ming Dynasty must be changed. Otherwise, there will be many people beheaded for corruption in the future." At a gathering hosted by the Minister of Justice Lin Jun, the Chief Justice of the Dali Temple Zhao Jian first put forward his opinion.

Other civil servants also agreed, but none of them dared to say that they would stand up and revise the Ming Dynasty laws.

Because all the high-ranking officials in the court who could come into contact with the Minister of Justice Lin Jun were very concerned about their official hats. They were afraid that once they proposed to change the Ming Dynasty laws, they would be criticized by the officials below.

However, when Dali Temple Minister Zhao Jian saw that no one was willing to take the lead, he resolutely stepped forward and said, "Since no one dares to take the lead in advocating a higher Ming Dynasty law, then let Zhao take the lead! Are there any gentlemen who are willing to jointly petition His Majesty to change the Ming Dynasty law?"

For a time, several officials were willing to sign the petition.

Zhu Houzhao was really embarrassed after receiving this memorial. In fact, he was not sure how to exercise his legislative power. After all, the officials of the Ming Dynasty were not used to suggesting that the emperor exercise his legislative power. But now, Wang Qiong's case had obviously made a group of civil servants realize the importance of changing the law, and whether he would exercise his legislative power to fulfill the wishes of these civil servants and change the Ming Dynasty law seemed to be a question.

"Since the law is for governing the people of the world, whether I will exercise the legislative power to change the provisions of the Ming Dynasty Law on dealing with corruption will be handed over to the Huang Ming Newspaper to solicit opinions from the scholars and people of the world on whether to change the Ming Dynasty Law and impose lighter punishments on corrupt officials. At the same time, I will order the governors of each province to select three representatives from each sector based on the divisions of scholars, farmers, workers, merchants, and the military to go to Beijing to vote and determine whether to change the Ming Dynasty Law! Please note that the scholars here include officials, teachers, and craftsmen." Zhu Houzhao said.

As soon as this decree was issued, the entire civil service group was in an uproar.

"Solicit opinions from the people of the world, elect representatives from all walks of life to come to Beijing to vote, why is it so troublesome to change the Ming Dynasty laws! Isn't the legislative power in the hands of the emperor?"

Zhao Jian, the Minister of Dali Temple, said this somewhat unwillingly. In order to keep up with the times, he had read the Outline of the Constitution several times again. He thought that after several officials jointly submitted a memorial, the emperor would simply accept it and agree to the changes. However, he did not expect that the Emperor wanted the people of the world to make the decision, which made him, the Minister of Dali Temple, very uncomfortable.

However, the Minister of Justice Lin Jun did not think so. He just smiled and said, "Your Majesty's move is a wise one. The world is not yours alone, and the law is not the family rules of the royal family. Since you want Your Majesty to change the law, Your Majesty naturally cannot abuse the legislative power and change it arbitrarily. Naturally, you have to ask the opinions of the people of the world! Otherwise, wouldn't it be easy to cause chaos! If everyone in the world thinks that the crime of corruption is too severe like you and me, Your Majesty will naturally change it, and what we think is also in line with the general trend of the world! But if the people of the world do not think so, it means that our thoughts are very different from those of the people of the world, and I am afraid that we are not suitable to assist Your Majesty in governing the Ming Dynasty! Because the people's hearts are different from what we think."

Zhao Jian had nothing to say. He hoped that people in the world would have the same opinion as him. After thinking for a while, he also laughed: "It's interesting to think about it carefully. The world's affairs are decided by the people in the world. Your Majesty's greatness in this move seems to have far surpassed the saints and wise rulers of all generations!"

After hearing this, the Minister of Justice Lin Jun just smiled faintly: "Your Majesty is a wise ruler, but the people may not understand it. Even you and I, the court officials, may not understand it. Your Majesty seems to have known it hundreds of years earlier than us. Once this matter is announced to the world, Your Majesty may be able to predict it, but I am afraid that you and I cannot predict it."

Just as Lin Jun said, once Zhu Houzhao made public the proposal by Zhao Jian and other civil servants to change the Ming Dynasty laws, controversy arose within the entire civil service group.

After all, not all civil servants support lenient sentences and light punishments. There are also some officials who are so stubborn that they cannot tolerate any injustice and some even hate evil.

"I think it is inappropriate for the Dali Temple Minister Zhao Bing and other officials to advocate changing the crime of corruption in the Ming Dynasty law. They even have ulterior motives! Administration is the great defense of the country. How can we easily forgive those who are corrupt and pervert the law? Moreover, the ancestral system cannot be changed! Zhao Bing and others have ulterior motives and intend to reduce the punishment for corrupt officials. Even if they are not corrupt officials, they are incompetent officials and should be dismissed from their posts!"

"I also think that Dali Temple Minister Zhao Bing and others are not worthy of being in charge of the three judicial departments. They intend to reduce the punishment for corrupt officials and are deliberately undermining the discipline of our Ming Dynasty! They are destroying our country!"

For a time, many young officials at the middle and lower levels of the court submitted memorials to impeach Zhao Jian and other officials who advocated changing the law, and they criticized Zhao Jian and other officials harshly.

Zhu Houzhao just found this funny. He had to admit that the officials of the Ming Dynasty were sometimes really lovely. Some wanted to change the laws to reduce penalties, some wanted to prohibit the laws from being changed, and some even demanded that the laws be changed to increase penalties. This was just like the peace talks between Chen Xinjia and Chongzhen in history. All the officials knew that peace talks were a good strategy but still impeached Chen Xinjia. Now many officials also know that what Zhao Jian did is what most officials want, but there are also many officials who want to oppose it. Sometimes they oppose for the sake of opposing, and sometimes they are just too young and passionate.

But because of this, Zhao Jian was furious: "I'm not suggesting changing the law just for myself! How can it be said that I'm a corrupt official!"

Zhu Houzhao did not have time to deal with the disputes among these civil servants. In his opinion, if everyone in the world felt that they could forgive officials who took bribes, or even give them lighter punishments, then he, as the emperor, could fulfill the wishes of the people. But this was obviously impossible. Some crimes were destined to be unforgivable by the upright people in this world.

Now, Wang Qiong, who is sitting in prison waiting to die, has understood this truth. If you ask him to explain why he accepted bribes when he knew that the law punished corruption and bribery so harshly, and why he accepted bribes when he was already rich, he doesn't know why. He can only admit that he was just greedy.

Wang Qiong now only hoped that Zhu Houzhao would use his power as an emperor to violate the law and forgive him. So when Zhu Houzhao came to see him, he just kowtowed to Zhu Houzhao and begged for mercy: "Your Majesty! I know I am guilty, but I am really loyal to you. I don't want to die! I beg you, Your Majesty!"

"Wang Qiong, it's not me who won't forgive you, it's the law that won't forgive you. You have a stake in the Infrastructure Bureau and earn a lot of money, so why do you still accept bribes from your subordinates? I would like to excuse you, but if I excuse you, won't other officials commit crimes in the future and I will have to excuse them too? Then where is the majesty of the laws of the Ming Dynasty?"

Zhu Houzhao said.

Wang Qiong had no choice but to stop crying when he heard Zhu Houzhao say this. He bowed to Zhu Houzhao and said, "I understand now! I violated the law first, which is unforgivable. Moreover, I deceived Your Majesty, which was also disloyal. I only wish to be Your Majesty's minister in the next life! I want to be a clean minister!"

"I'm glad you think so. Don't worry, I will remember your contributions. After you die, you will still have a posthumous title and honor. You deserve them. After all, you have also contributed to the financial reform of the Ming Dynasty!"

Zhu Houzhao left the prison after saying this. Sometimes, after spending a long time with some close ministers, one would indeed develop some feelings for them. At this moment, seeing Wang Qiong so lonely, he felt a little reluctant and wanted to show leniency. After all, as an emperor, he did not seem to hate the corruption of his officials so much.

But Zhu Houzhao knew that he couldn't do this. He couldn't be a saint, and he couldn't be soft-hearted. He had to stay rational. The law could only be modified but not violated! He had to practice this! If he forgave Wang Qiong out of personal friendship, it would only undermine the majesty of the law and make other ministers who had a good relationship with him unscrupulous.

Sometimes, as an emperor, you have to be ruthless.

Getting rid of the cabinet chief minister Wang Qiong was not the result Zhu Houzhao wanted emotionally, because Wang Qiong was not completely useless except that he loved to use clever tricks to fool himself. He even tried to please him and was very careful about how he got along with him. This made him, the emperor, like him more than some so-called loyal ministers.

But rationally, Zhu Houzhao knew that he had to get rid of Wang Qiong! The position of the cabinet chief cannot be held by anyone with different intentions, at least not by anyone with different intentions towards himself, and cannot take the lead in violating the law, otherwise, the officials below will become even more unscrupulous.

"Your Majesty, the Ministry of Justice has sent a message that Wang Qiong just bribed the jailer and committed suicide by taking medicine in prison!"

At this time, Qi Jingtong came to Zhu Houzhao and replied.

Zhu Houzhao couldn't help but stop writing, and after a long while he said, "That's good, so I don't have to suffer the pain of beheading!"

Zhu Houzhao then instructed Gu Dayong: "Tell the cabinet to issue an imperial decree to the Ministry of Rites to posthumously confer a posthumous title according to the rules. At the same time, issue an imperial decree to the Ministry of Personnel to posthumously confer a title according to the rules!"

Gu Dayong replied with a "Yes!" He secretly sighed that His Majesty could clearly distinguish between a person's merits and demerits. Wang Qiong's faults were punished by the Ministry of Justice according to the law, while Wang Qiong's merits were rewarded by the Ministry of Rites and the Ministry of Personnel. "

……

Yang Yiqing also learned of Wang Qiong's death at this time. He was frightened as his hair turned almost completely white overnight. After all, as a cabinet minister, he also accepted gifts from his officials.

Yang Yiqing knew that even if the Prime Minister of the Cabinet was found to have accepted bribes, he would not be forgiven. Then, as one of the third ministers of the Cabinet, he would probably not be forgiven either. The law was ruthless!

then.

Yang Yiqing decided to surrender himself because Zhu Houzhao had established new rules in the Regulations on Interrogations (a supplement to the Ming Dynasty Law, which existed in the Hongzhi period in history) that those who surrendered themselves would be given lighter punishments.

Zhu Houzhao was actually quite willing to see Yang Yiqing surrender himself. After all, he did not want to execute these so-called capable ministers for the crime of corruption and bribery.

For the entire Ming Dynasty officialdom, this was the first case of an official surrendering himself, and it caused quite a stir.

However, the Censorate approved Yang Yiqing's application for surrender and opened the case. The Ministry of Justice also sentenced Yang Yiqing to 70 strokes of the cane in accordance with the laws of the Ming Dynasty on the grounds that Yang Yiqing surrendered himself.

Although Yang Yiqing was over 60 years old, he was fortunately in good health and was taken care of by officials from the Ministry of Justice. Although he was beaten with the stick 70 times, he was not beaten to death. He just had to travel in a wheelchair from then on.

But Yang Yiqing's actions also set a good example. From then on, once an official was impeached for corruption by the censor, many timid officials would voluntarily surrender and hand over the embezzled money. However, there were also some who took a lucky break and regretted their actions only after the incident.

Yang Yiqing was also dismissed from his position as Grand Secretary of the Cabinet. After all, cabinet ministers were not allowed to have any stain.

At one time, two cabinet ministers fell, which was a major event that shocked the court and the country in the Ming Dynasty.

But Zhu Houzhao did not want to end there. He wanted to rectify the government in all aspects, and Zhu Houzhao also knew that he had not dug out the real parasites of the empire. In Jiangnan, he dared to directly instigate the inspector to arbitrarily punish the fourth-rank official, and in the border towns, he dared to collude with the eunuchs to mix gunpowder with mud and sand. It was obvious that there were still many parasites corroding the empire in secret.

"I have long said that the censors of the Censorate, as law enforcement officials, should not abuse their power just because they have the power of supervision. This Southern Zhili Circuit Censor Hu Shiyan, Deputy Military Commissioner and Songjiang Prefect Xiong Jia, is partial to the law, corrupt and neglects his duties. So, where is the evidence of his partiality, corruption and neglect of duty?"

Zhu Houzhao called Jin Xianmin, the Left Censor-in-Chief of the Censorate, and gave him a direct scolding.

"So according to Your Majesty, do you want to reject it?" Jin Xianmin asked.

"What do you think?" Zhu Houzhao asked back unhappily.

"I understand. I will go and approve it right away and ask Hu Shi to produce the evidence!" Jin Xianmin replied hurriedly.

Zhu Houzhao nodded and called Ma Yongcheng over: "The Dongchang Supervisory Office should send a capable person to Nanzhili to let Hu Shi explain the problem and ask him who gave him the power to directly punish court officials and suspend them from their posts. Does he want to be the emperor of Nanzhili and take over the power to appoint and dismiss officials, the power of trial, and the power of supervision in Nanzhili!

I have already issued an edict that the provincial inspectors only have the power of supervision, while the power of trial is in the hands of the provincial inspectors and the power of official appointment is in the hands of the provincial governors. These local officials really do not take my edict seriously!"

Thanks to my book friend Mo You La Jiao for the 100 Qidian coins reward

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(End of this chapter)