Ming: I am fake, walking on thin ice

Chapter 85: Is there still a sharp sword in my Ming Dynasty?

Twilight Quadruple.

After dinner, Zhu Qizhen stayed in the Qianqing Palace and felt bored, so he strolled to the Hanlin Academy. Seeing that the candlelight was still on in the Hanlin Academy, he strode in.

The eunuchs wanted to follow him, but he gave them a cold look and told them to wait outside. After becoming the emperor, unless he went out of the palace incognito, he was always followed by a group of eunuchs and palace maids. There was nothing he could do about it. Every move of the emperor in the palace had to be recorded.

He walked into the Hanlin Academy and found a candle lit on one of the chairs. Liu Dingzhi was writing furiously, as if he was concentrating on copying something. After copying, he held the book in his left hand and checked it carefully. With his right hand, he picked up a cold steamed bun on the table and prepared to eat it with sauce.

However, because he was too focused, he did not realize that he had mistaken the ink for sauce. He took a bite and his mouth was full of black ink, but he was still unaware.

Zhu Qizhen couldn't help but laugh when he witnessed this scene.

When Liu Dingzhi heard the laughter, he looked up suddenly, panicked, and quickly stood up and knelt, saying: "Your Majesty, I, Liu Dingzhi, pay my respects to you."

"Stand up and talk." Zhu Qizhen raised his hand. "Why are you in the Imperial Academy? I told Yu Qian to put you next to him."

Liu Dingzhi bowed quickly and said, "I was originally in the army of Yu Shaobao, and recently I entered the Hanlin Academy. Yu Shaobao said that my knowledge would be more useful as a civil servant."

"Then listen to Master Yu." Zhu Qizhen glanced at the notebook on the table and asked, "What are you copying? It's so late, why don't you go home?"

Liu Dingzhi was still a little nervous.

He went to the capital and beat the drum to file a complaint with the emperor, and successfully brought down a vassal king. Not only that, he also became an official, which was something he had never dared to think about before going to the capital.

All this is because of His Majesty the Emperor, and he is extremely grateful.

……

"I am copying the files of the Ministry of Justice." Liu Dingzhi said respectfully standing aside, "The Ministry of Justice borrowed people from the Hanlin Academy to do the work. I don't know anything about the court, so I can only study extra hard."

Zhu Qizhen looked puzzled: "Are you interested in criminal law?"

Liu Dingzhi shook his head and smiled bitterly: "That's not true. To be honest, after I became an official, I found that I knew nothing. I copied and wrote in the Hanlin Academy, and then I was seconded to the Ministry of Revenue to copy tax records from various places. Now I help the Ministry of Justice copy files. The books I read and the articles I wrote before are of no use at all. So, I decided to start from scratch."

Zhu Qizhen could hear Liu Dingzhi's dissatisfaction with the job in the Imperial Academy. In the past, he might have thought that these copying and writing jobs were worthless.

However, he now had a different idea. He realized that the rules that had been passed down for hundreds of years had their own profound meaning. So he spread his hands and smiled: "You said you want to start from scratch, that's great! Don't underestimate the copying and writing in the Hanlin Academy. When you are familiar with the court's laws, taxes, criminal law and other matters, when you go out to be an official in the future, you will not be fooled by clerks or bullied by unruly people."

Liu Dingzhi suddenly realized what was going on and thanked him, saying, "I have followed your Majesty's instructions. Actually... I copied these files for my own selfish reasons. As the sage said, you should not deceive your majesty. I dare not hide anything."

"Then tell me about it?" Zhu Qizhen said with a smile.

"I can earn one tael of silver a month by copying files at night, and I use it to supplement my family income." Liu Dingzhi said with embarrassment.

Zhu Qizhen laughed out loud upon hearing this: "Hahaha, you are honest and trustworthy. Good, good, good! Go on copying. I won't delay your earning money."

He patted Liu Dingzhi on the shoulder, turned around and strode out.

……

The next day, morning.

Shuntian prefect Liu Ju reported the case of Sun Zhen, son of Huichang Marquis Sun Jizhong, who hit someone to death. He deliberately chose to report it at the morning court because as the prefect, he felt that the case was difficult to handle, so he simply revealed it at the morning court. "This case happened in your Shuntian prefecture, so it should naturally be tried by your Shuntian prefecture." Duke Cheng snorted, "The morning court is a place to discuss military and national affairs."

"Yeah, how did you become a prefect?" The Minister of Justice Yu Shiyue also scolded coldly.

Liu Ju was quite cunning. He simply admitted his mistake and bowed to the emperor, saying, "Your Majesty, although this case happened in Shuntian Prefecture, it involves Prince Xiang and Marquis Huichang. I am really powerless. Please punish me, Your Majesty."

After these words were spoken, Duke Chengguo and Yu Shiyue were speechless.

Zhu Qizhen secretly admired that Liu Ju was indeed not an ordinary person to be the prefect under the emperor. This move of retreating to advance was really a brilliant move, and he easily pulled himself out of the whirlpool.

"What Liu Aiqing said does make some sense." He glanced at the ministers, "Although this case is small, it involves a prince and a marquis. How about this, let the case be handed over to the Ministry of Justice for trial?"

Yu Shiyue, the Minister of Justice, knelt down immediately and said, "Your Majesty, this is against the rules. Why don't we hand it over to the Dali Temple?"

Luo Qi, the Junior Official of the Dali Temple, stepped forward and bowed, "Does a mere hit-and-run case need to be transferred to the Dali Temple?"

Snapped!
Zhu Qizhen slammed the dragon throne and roared:
"What are you arguing about? Is this Fengtian Palace a vegetable market? Humph, you guys don't dare to take on a case involving a prince and a marquis, and you're still passing the buck here?"

"Does my Ming Dynasty still have sharp swords? No matter how sharp the sword is, it is just a rusty knife in your hands!"

After saying that, he angrily threw his sleeves and left.

All the ministers were stunned. Why was His Majesty so angry?

……

After returning to the Qianqing Palace, the angry Zhu Qizhen immediately ordered Liu Dingzhi to be summoned. Today, he deliberately got angry in the court in order to take advantage of the situation and take this opportunity to let his own people try the case.

Soon, Liu Dingzhi came in and knelt respectfully in the hall.

Zhu Qizhen walked up to him and smiled: "Have you heard of this? There are parties in the court. For example, who recommended you, who recommended you, or who is your hometown friend, they will form a party."

Liu Dingzhi shook his head firmly: "Although I have heard of it, I don't know much about it. I just brought down a vassal king, and my colleagues...are afraid to associate with me."

"Hahaha, very good." Zhu Qizhen leaned over and patted his shoulder. "Liu Dingzhi, you told me at the beginning that you didn't see a good official along the way. Now that you are in an official position yourself, I will give you a case to see if you can be a good official."

"I obey your order." Liu Dingzhi bowed again.

Zhu Qizhen handed the case of Sun Zhen, the son of Marquis of Huichang, who had killed someone, to him and asked the newcomer to take charge.

"This case involves princes and military marquises, so you must be careful in what you do." Zhu Qizhen warned.

"I will definitely handle the case impartially and live up to your majesty's expectations." Liu Dingzhi stated firmly.

Zhu Qizhen smiled slightly, waved his hand, and Liu Dingzhi retreated.

In his opinion, if Liu Dingzhi was used well, he would be a sharp sword of the Ming Dynasty.

(End of this chapter)