The Ming Dynasty did not revolutionize

Chapter 391 Another accident?

Zhu Jingkun took advantage of his position, the key being the imperial edict and the emperor's authorization he brought, as well as his own habits and temper, to reprimand all the officials at the venue.

First of all, a major tone was set: all officials involved in the women's imperial examination incident were now guilty, and all subsequent actions were to atone for their sins.

Their performance during the subsequent investigation directly determines the final punishment for their previous crimes, that is, the length of time they are banned from promotion.

Although the specific evaluation criteria are not entirely in the hands of Zhu Jingkun, Zhu Jingkun's report is obviously the most critical factor.

Then we asked about the basic conditions in various places, focused on a few relevant issues on the spot, and based on these issues, gave specific reminders and warnings.

Not only does he suppress everyone in terms of momentum, he also gives some reminders that are also beneficial to officials, so as to control the current situation as a whole and make all officials obey and cooperate with him as a whole.

Finally, some specific orders were assigned to all the education officials, mainly to collect the opinions of local gentry on the issue of women's imperial examinations.

After all local officials and educational officials return to their jurisdictions, they should send notices to all officials and common people who have achieved the titles of student, juren, and jinshi in their jurisdictions.

Let these local gentry prepare their opinions and write reports in advance.

As the Jiangnan Education Commissioner, Zhu Jingkun will next tour the Jiangnan region and meet with these gentry, review their reports and hold on-site discussions with their representatives.

Finally, the opinions of the gentry in Jiangnan were compiled and reported to the court, which would ultimately decide whether to allow women to take the imperial examinations and how to do so.

Zhu Jingkun felt that he could roughly guess the result, but he did not dare to use guesswork to replace actual research.

The specific work that needs to be done must still be completed, and then compared with the analysis summary you have implemented to verify whether there is any problem with your analysis logic.

The education received by princes like Zhu Jingkun was different from that of ordinary gentry, and even the education received by the officials who actually did the work was very different.

The specific outcome of things is not the most important thing for them. They are accustomed to using this process to verify and strengthen their judgment.

The level of this overall judgment ability is actually determined by the degree of mastery of the logic of social operation, which is what the saying goes, "knowledge of the world is knowledge."

Zhu Jingkun did not need to make special arrangements for local research, as the educational officials could not be stationed in the Sansi Yamen.

He was supposed to inspect the prefectures within his jurisdiction, preside over the annual examinations, and check the conditions of the schools and students.

The students here include scholars who have already achieved academic success, as well as school students.

Since the Tiangong Dynasty, the Ming Dynasty's education and imperial examination system has been rapidly differentiating into two independent systems.

One is of course the traditional imperial examination route. The imperial court does not care about the enlightenment learning process, and students can study in community schools, private schools or even self-study.

When you think you are capable, you can ask the village head, a scholar and four fellow villagers to sign a recommendation, and then you can go to take the formal examination.

After passing the county examination, prefectural examination and annual examination, one becomes a student, commonly known as a scholar. Those with excellent results have the opportunity to be transferred directly to the government office as a clerk, and at the same time they will receive a salary.

The system of students receiving stipends had been abolished. Not to mention the scholars with good grades, even the juren and jinshi could not receive salaries from the court if they did not work in the government offices.

However, the scale of the court's employment now far exceeds that of the past. All officials are appointed from among the scholars, and their salaries are paid by the court, which is equivalent to the students on government stipends.

Students whose academic performance is not very good can continue to take part in the annual examinations, and the yamen will continue to select people to join the yamen according to needs.

At the same time, you can also take part in the provincial examination. If you pass it, you will become a juren, and juren will have the opportunity to become an official directly.

At the same time, there were more and more new-style government-run schools of various forms, and the imperial examination system that matched the schools gradually became a new trend.

The graduation examination of government-run primary schools corresponds to the traditional county examination, the graduation examination of government-run middle schools corresponds to the traditional prefectural examination, and the graduation examination of government-run universities corresponds to the annual examination.

If you graduate from university and pass the final examination, you can also obtain the status of a student. If you have excellent grades, you can also directly enter the government to work.

Even if one's grades were not the best, one could still continue to take part in the traditional annual examinations held once a year, and then enter the government to take up a position based on one's results.

Or, like traditional scholars, he could continue to take part in the provincial examinations, prepare to pass the examination and become an official directly.

Before the Chongzhen period, county and prefectural examinations were directly organized by county magistrates and prefects. After the Tiangong period, they were gradually replaced by full-time educational officials.

The annual examinations were always conducted by the educational officials of the Three Departments, while the provincial examinations for selecting successful candidates were presided over by officials directly dispatched by the central court.

Zhu Jingkun rested for three days at the residence of the Jiangnan Education Commissioner, waiting for the local gentry in Suzhou to accept the notice from the local officials, think and discuss on their own, and compile a report.

And just during these few days, a new accident happened again.

After the meeting, the magistrate of Shanghai immediately returned to his jurisdiction by motor vehicle. After returning to the yamen, he called the judge and secretaries and prepared to issue a notice according to Zhu Jingkun's request.

But what he received first was some untimely bad news conveyed by the judge and the secretary.

"What does it mean that Huang Lu is dead? Which Huang Lu? Could it be the girl who insisted on taking the annual exam... that widow?"

The Shanghai Prefecture magistrate and secretary gave an affirmative answer with complicated expressions.

"This morning, not long after you left, the servants of Lu's family ran to the government office to report the case. They woke up in the morning to call Lu for dinner and found that Lu had been murdered..."

After the Shanghai prefect confirmed his guess, he was completely dumbfounded.

This woman died at a very unfortunate time. If the eldest prince asks about this woman again, or even wants to meet her, how should I answer?

Would the eldest prince suspect that it was the Jiangnan officials, including himself, who directly killed the key person involved in this female imperial examination incident?
Workers from all walks of life in Yingtian Prefecture were called upon to take action. The attack on the Forbidden City, which led to the emperor's direct relocation of the capital, was still vivid in their minds.

If the eldest prince or even the emperor suspected that officials from Jiangnan killed people to silence them in order to oppose the court, the consequences would be disastrous.

The key point is that this matter was not done by Jiangnan officials, and it was definitely not done by me. I have to prove my innocence as soon as possible.

After being stunned for a few seconds, the Shanghai prefect quickly continued to ask for more details:

"What is going on? Are there any traces of suspects? Was it done by Huang Lu's husband's brothers?"

The Shanghai judge took out the confession he had prepared in advance:

“This is the confession of the Lu family’s servants. There is currently no way to confirm their relationship with Huang Lu’s husband’s family, but I have already sent someone to summon them for questioning.

"According to the judgment of the Lu family's servants, it was probably a murder of passion or murder for money, or possibly both...

"The Lu family has a few close friends with whom they have ambiguous relationships and they keep in touch from time to time.

“Yesterday, a friend named Lin came to Lu’s house. He seemed to have had some dispute with Lu and then left indignantly.

"I have already sent someone to question my friend named Lin."

After hearing this, the Shanghai prefect gnashed his teeth and said:

"Then there is most likely an affair. This widow is really a jinx and a source of trouble.

"I and the Education Commissioner must now cooperate with His Highness and call together local officials and gentry to discuss matters.

"Don't worry about anything else. Focus on this matter now and mobilize all your forces to investigate it as quickly as possible.

"It would be best... it would be best if we could figure out what happened within three days, before Your Highness comes to Shanghai, and we must catch the suspect.

"I will call the Chief Justice for help. This woman's identity is too sensitive. The Chief Justice should be able to mobilize personnel to help.

The Shanghai prefect handed the matter over to the judge, and then called the Chief Justice directly. The Chief Justice of Jiangnan was writing a petition to plead guilty, and he was already feeling depressed and even overwhelmed.

After receiving a call from the Shanghai governor and listening to his report, I almost slapped myself in the face:
"What the hell are you doing? Can you please just leave me alone?"

However, the Chief Justice could also believe that since the Shanghai prefect reported to him so suddenly, this incident was most likely an accident.

At the same time, I also know that this matter is really troublesome and sensitive. The murder of this woman at this time is really easy to make people think of something wrong.

So after the Chief Justice reprimanded the Shanghai prefect, he also made arrangements feebly:

"I will immediately arrange for someone to help you, but I will also immediately report this matter to His Highness."

The Shanghai prefect wanted to thank him immediately after hearing the first half of the sentence, but was stunned when he heard the second half:
"No, no, no... We can't do this. This is too sensitive right now. Let's try not to let His Highness know..."

The Chief Justice said in a low voice:
“It’s because I’m sensitive that I have to confess to Your Highness.

“This woman’s identity is too important, this matter cannot be kept secret.

"It will be a real big trouble when His Highness finds out about it himself."

The Shanghai prefect had no choice but to accept the advice and warning from the Censor-in-Chief.

After hanging up the phone, the Chief Justice put down the half-written memorial of apology and ran to Zhu Jingkun's residence in a panic to ask for a meeting.

Ask the guard outside Zhu Jingkun's door to inform him that there is something very urgent that needs to be reported as soon as possible.

Zhu Jingkun was also writing a report. He didn't know why the Chief Justice was suddenly in a hurry to see him, but he couldn't deliberately avoid seeing him.

If there really is something important and it is delayed because I didn't see him, it will be my fault and I will ask the guards to let him in.

After the meeting, the Chief Justice quickly bowed and then roughly explained the news he had received.

Zhu Jingkun couldn't help but frown after hearing this. He instinctively wanted to get angry and scold the other party, but the words disappeared when they reached his lips:
"Okay, I got it. Arrange someone to investigate the matter as soon as possible. Whether it's a problem with Huang Lu's husband's family or an affair, there must be a result."

The Chief Inspector became even more panicked when he saw that Zhu Jingkun was quite calm, and instinctively wanted to emphasize that it was an accident.

But she was afraid that if she took the initiative to emphasize it without Zhu Jingkun asking, it might seem like she was trying to cover up something, so she didn't know how to confess her feelings.

Zhu Jingkun seemed to see through his mentality, and he sighed, shook his head and waved his hands, saying:
"No need to explain, I know you don't have the guts to deliberately destroy the key witness when I come here.

"Even if they did, they wouldn't tell me right away until I asked.

"My father is already very angry about this matter. If something like this happens again, he will really start a massacre in the Jiangnan officialdom.

“So I think you don’t dare, and no one dares to challenge Father’s tolerance.

"Go ahead and get busy. Hurry up and write a letter of apology regarding the land transaction issue, and have the Tongzhengsi send it to Shuntian Prefecture for you."

The Chief Justice was terrified and bowed his hands, saying:

"Yes, yes, we absolutely wouldn't dare to do that. Thank you for your generosity. I have already written most of it. I will come and report to your Highness as soon as I receive the news."

Zhu Jingkun waved his hand to let the Chief Justice go back, and after watching the other party walk out of the room, he threw aside the report he had just written.

Pick up another blank secret report book, reorganize and write an outline for another report.

After writing the outline and organizing my thoughts, I didn't write the entire report, but instead called my father directly.

Ordinary officials did not have the opportunity to call the emperor directly, but Zhu Jingkun was obviously not an ordinary official and could get his number called directly.

After the call was connected, Zhu Jingkun quickly gave his father a verbal report according to the prepared outline.

First, he explained what he had discovered so far, including that there were problems with the land company's transactions and that he had asked the Jiangnan Chief Justice to plead guilty.

Including the arrangements and plans he had made so far, and even the death of the widow Huang Lu that he had just learned of.

Finally, state your request and suggestions.

Please ask the Emperor, father, to arrange more manpower for me to protect my safety and cooperate with me to continue my work.

What Zhu Jingkun just said to the Chief Justice was true, but not all.

Although Zhu Jingkun did feel that if the Jiangnan officials were sane, they would not kill people to silence them at this time.

But I can't guarantee that there are no crazy people among these officials.

So for his own safety, he put on a particularly trustworthy attitude and first calmed the emotions of the Chief Justice.

Then he immediately asked his father for help.

Finally, Zhu Jingkun verbally suggested to his father that the existing Judicial Supervision Office be split up to establish a Judicial Supervision Office and a Judicial Supervision Office respectively.

At the same time, at the prefecture, state, and county levels, the judicial officials used in the late Chongzhen period were restored to be in charge of criminal and prison matters, while existing officials in the prefectures and states were responsible for other government affairs.

Now the Judicial Supervisory Office is an office that is responsible for supervision, trial, and prisons, as well as a host of miscellaneous tasks, and its responsibilities are too complicated.

The key is that the suspects supervise themselves, investigate and manage themselves after discovering a case, and may even judge themselves.

For cases that were complicated and involved many people, officials from the Judicial and Surveillance Commission did not want to formally initiate an investigation because that would cause trouble for their own colleagues.

When problems arose in the process of the land company reclaiming the land, the Supreme Court did not step in to stop it, and this may have been the reason behind it.

Grassroots officials at the prefecture, state and county levels are directly responsible for trials, and they also have the problem of managing and judging themselves.

Especially when the chief officials and assistant officials of prefectures, states, and counties all have judicial power, the probability of collusion between the two sides is more likely to exceed the probability of mutual supervision and checks and balances.

The Chongzhen Dynasty established a separate judicial official, but later gradually abolished it because the court's finances could not support it at the time.

But the court’s finances are now more abundant than they were then, and are sufficient to support such reforms.

When Zhu Jianxuan received the call from his son, he knew that the other party probably had something urgent to report, so after picking up the phone, he patiently listened to the other party's report.

After the investigation, a direct response was given:
“Although these officials probably don’t have the guts to make things difficult for you, your caution is absolutely the right choice.

“You should stay in Jiangnan for a few days and listen to the opinions of local gentry. Don’t rush to make any radical responses or decisions.

“I will immediately arrange more guards for you and give you the power to mobilize the Jiangnan Jinyiwei.

“Also arrange three garrison main divisions to move south. They will not be under your direct command, but will be responsible for maintaining stability in Jiangnan and ensuring your safety.

"As for the matter of splitting up the judicial commissioner and establishing a judicial commissioner, I will consider it."

Zhu Jingkun heaved a sigh of relief after hearing this:

"Thank you, Father."

(End of this chapter)