I was compiling the daily records during the Wanli reign

Chapter 132 The Three Grand Secretaries: Repatriation! Young Wanli Emperor: I Disagree!
February 25th, early morning.

While Shi Danian, the head of the soap-making team in Xiangfu County, was still fast asleep.

Two constables sent by the Imperial Inspector Zhang Jian tied him up and took him to the front hall of the county school (the temporary office of the Imperial Inspector).

When Wu Qing, the magistrate of Xiangfu County, learned of this, he was furious.

Unexpectedly, Zhang Jian completely disregarded him, the magistrate of Xiangfu County, and immediately led a group of yamen runners to the Xiangfu County School.

Inside the county school preschool hall.

Wu Qing looked angrily at Zhang Jian, the imperial inspector who was sitting in the front hall writing documents.

“Inspector Zhang, while the Censor-in-Chief has the power to supervise local affairs, he cannot arbitrarily interfere in local politics and justice. Even if the officials of my Xiangfu County are guilty, the case should be tried by the county itself. What right do you have to arrest county officials?”

Zhang Jian stood up.

"Master Zhou, a private tutor in Xiangfu County, has reported that Shi Danian, the head of the county yamen's constables, is privately manufacturing counterfeit bows and frequently bullying the villagers. He intends to have him bound and sent to the capital to file a complaint with the emperor. Is there anything wrong with me helping him out?"

"What?! He's been kidnapped and sent to the capital to appeal to the emperor? What right does a mere scholar have... what right does he have..."

Before he could finish speaking, Zhang Jian picked up the yellowed copy of the "Great Proclamation" from the table, opened it to a page, and said, "Is he not qualified?"

Wu Qing took the "Great Proclamation" with a puzzled look and saw the section on eliminating the villagers' calamities.

This article can be summarized in one sentence:

The common people have the right to bind corrupt officials and bring them to the capital to file a complaint, and no one may obstruct them. Compiled by Zhu Yuanzhang.

"This...this...Inspector Zhang, this...isn't this absurd? Our current laws are all based on the Great Ming Code, and there is no such article in the Great Ming Code. Which commoner would dare to bind a government official and bring him to the capital?"

As a county magistrate, Wu Qing was very knowledgeable about the laws and regulations of the time.

The Great Proclamation was personally compiled by Zhu Yuanzhang, the founding emperor of the Ming Dynasty, in the eighteenth year of the Hongwu reign. Its punishments were far more severe than those in the Great Ming Code.

This law mainly targets two points: first, to crack down on corrupt officials; and second, to punish those who rape the people.

During the Hongwu era, the "Great Proclamation" was a required text for the Imperial Academy and the imperial examinations, and all private and public schools in prefectures, counties, and townships throughout the country were required to teach students to memorize it.

As long as the common people hold the "Great Proclamation," they can bind corrupt officials and bring them to the capital. Without a travel permit, no one dares to stop them.

This was Zhu Yuanzhang's unique method of "using the people to punish officials".

At its peak.

Almost every household in the Ming Dynasty kept a register, and there were many instances of "commoners binding officials and bringing them to the capital," which temporarily led to a clean and efficient administration.

However, this occurred during and after the reign of Emperor Renzong.

Because the "Great Proclamation" was too strict and harsh, reflecting too much of Zhu Yuanzhang's personal will, it was gradually abandoned and the "Great Ming Code" was adopted as the sole legal standard.

“Inspector Zhang, the Great Proclamation is an outdated law. If you assist Master Zhou in doing so, I will impeach you immediately!” Wu Qing said again.

Zhang Jian gave a cold smile.

“Magistrate Wu, can you find any article in any legal code or imperial edict that explicitly abolishes the Great Proclamation?”

Upon hearing this, Wu Qing was speechless.

After Emperor Renzong, the reason why the emperors of the Ming Dynasty did not use the "Great Proclamation" was that the use of such harsh laws and punishments was cruel and implicated too many people, which was not in line with the current situation. In addition, the power of the civil official group gradually increased, forcing the imperial power to no longer act arbitrarily.

However, the laws and decrees enacted by Zhu Yuanzhang were actually ancestral rules.

Although the emperors of the Ming Dynasty abandoned the use of the "Great Proclamation," they still used it as a propaganda book to educate officials and the people.

No one dared to suggest abandoning it.

Seeing Wu Qing speechless, Zhang Jian continued, "Back then, our founding emperor compiled the Great Proclamation because, at the beginning of the dynasty, many officials were derelict in their duties and violated the law, and land annexation was rampant. It was necessary to use severe punishments and laws to rectify the officialdom. Now, although it is not a chaotic era, the Henan Provincial Administration Commission has become corrupt and chaotic because of the land survey! The common people rely on ancestral rules to appeal, and they have only bound one official and brought him to the capital. What wrong have they done?"

"Even if there is a mistake, it was His Majesty who personally ordered the punishment. I reported this matter to the capital yesterday. If His Majesty does not approve, he will send the Embroidered Uniform Guard to send them back!"

Upon hearing this, Wu Qing instantly understood Zhang Jian's true purpose.

present.

Although Zhang Jian found the fake bow, he could only submit a memorial to impeach Xiangfu County, but had no evidence to impeach the provincial officials of Kaifeng Prefecture.

He knew that the matter would be suppressed by his superiors.

He insisted on impeaching the official, but without concrete evidence, he would most likely be charged by provincial officials with "disrupting the measurement of land in Henan" and ordered by the court to send him back or dismiss him.

And this time.

Master Zhou bound Shi Danian and brought him to the capital with a fake bow, accusing him of forging bows and arbitrarily reducing the land tax of the imperial princes and increasing the land tax of the common people.

By relying on the ancestral system of the Ming Dynasty, they can generate a lot of public opinion and make this matter bigger.

Anyone who isn't a fool would find it hard to believe that a mere head constable of a county yamen could have ordered such an act.

As long as Master Zhou is willing to risk his life, he may be able to reach the capital or make the matter known to the world.

Even if severely punished, the imperial court will certainly dispatch the Embroidered Uniform Guard to conduct a thorough investigation due to the significant public outcry.

to be honest.

Master Zhou used the ancestral system of the Ming Dynasty as a shield to speak the truth. With the help of the Imperial Inspector Zhang Jian, he was sure to spread the news to the capital.

Wu Qing immediately became anxious.

"Inspector Zhang, are you...are you insane? Are you planning to make it impossible to complete this year's land survey in Henan? Are you planning to make all the officials in charge of the eight prefectures, one state, and ninety-six counties under the Henan Provincial Administration lose their posts? What good will this do for the court? What good will this do for the new policies?"

"If it benefits the people of Henan, that's enough!" Zhang Jian said with a serious expression.

"Humph!"

Wu Qing, his face dark, turned and walked out.

Faced with this situation, he had no choice but to report it.

Only if the higher-ups downplay the matter can his crime be reduced, and only then can the charge of privately manufacturing bows be shifted onto certain clerks, thus protecting himself.

……

Near noon.

Outside the county school in Xiangfu County, a horse-drawn carriage was parked, and inside the carriage lay Shi Danian, bound hand and foot.

During his years as a yamen runner in Xiangfu County, Shi Danian accepted numerous bribes and oppressed the people, earning him a terrible reputation.

He was tied up like this, and no one sympathized with him.

Besides a coachman, there were five servants beside the carriage.

These six men were all attendants of the Imperial Inspector Zhang Jian, and they would soon be traveling to the capital with Master Zhou.

soon.

Zhang Jian and Master Zhou walked out of the county school.

Zhang Jian solemnly cupped his hands towards Master Zhou and said, "Master Zhou, remember, when you travel on the official road, tell as many people as possible about this matter. The bigger this matter becomes, the safer you will be. Perhaps before you even reach the capital, the Emperor will have already ordered the Imperial Guard to thoroughly investigate this matter!"

"Rest assured, Inspector Zhang, I have long since disregarded life and death. I will definitely spread this matter and let the court uphold justice for the people of the entire Henan Provincial Administration Commission."

Zhang Jian nodded emphatically.

At present, there are far too few people in the Ming Dynasty who are so concerned about the country that they disregard their own safety.

Just as Master Zhou was about to get into the carriage, he suddenly saw more than ten people looking in his direction from a distance.

There were farmers he knew, school teachers he knew, and several eleven or twelve-year-old boys, all of whom were his students.

Upon seeing Master Zhou, these people bowed deeply to him.

This is a farewell gift.

After returning the greeting, Master Zhou climbed into the carriage.

Zhang Jian looked at the dozen or so people and felt a pang of sadness.

The fake measuring bow harmed all the farmers in Xiangfu County who owned land. Master Zhou spoke out for them, and they all knew about it.

But only a dozen or so people dared to see Master Zhou off.

If Wu Qing continues to govern Xiangfu County in this way, the people will likely become numb and dare not speak the truth.

……

February 26th, near dusk, Kaifeng Prefecture.

The rear hall of the Henan Provincial Administration Office.

Shi Mengzhong, the governor of Henan and concurrently the right vice censor-in-chief of the Censorate, sat in the highest position.

Zheng Yunying, Left Provincial Administration Commissioner of Henan, An Jiashan, Left Councilor of Henan, Xu Daren, Left Councilor of Henan, and others sat on both sides.

This strategy of "faking the use of land measurement tools to distribute land to the people" was devised by the provincial officials present. Their ultimate goal was...

It was not to curry favor with the feudal lords of Henan, but to better implement the land surveying system.

If they strictly follow the land survey policy instructed by the imperial court, they will offend all the imperial clans.

Not only would they fail to complete the land survey task, but they would also be targeted by the imperial clans, causing major problems in Henan's commerce, agriculture, water conservancy, and disaster relief.

These major issues are closely related to their performance evaluations.

They naturally found it hard to accept.

Therefore, in order to complete the task assigned by the imperial court, and for the sake of their current performance evaluation and future career prospects, they decided to make the people suffer even more.

When the plan was formulated, they thought it was a good one.

After the land is shared by the people, the difficult task of land surveying will be able to proceed smoothly, and the local feudal lords who suffered a small loss will be grateful to them.

At this time.

Zheng Yunying, the Left Provincial Administration Commissioner of Henan, stroked his beard and looked at Shi Mengzhong, the Governor of Henan.

“Governor Shi, now, the Imperial Inspector Zhang Jian is going against us, and he even sent a private tutor to the capital to file a complaint against the emperor, using the ancestral instruction of Emperor Taizu to ‘bind up the clerks and bring them to the capital for punishment.’”

"The matter of falsely measuring land in Xiangfu County is bound to be exposed. Should we take remedial action and immediately destroy all the false measuring instruments in other places, rewrite the account books, and measure the land according to the requirements of the imperial court?"

Shi Mengzhong shook his head.

"Once the arrow is released, there's no turning back! If we ignore the interests of the vassal states, we won't be able to finish surveying the fields in Henan, let alone by the end of this year or even by the end of next year!"

"We must withstand the pressure and continue to implement the Huatian strategy. We should use the five-foot-five-inch bow when it is appropriate, and the four-foot-five-inch bow when it is appropriate. Whoever is found out deserves it. We must never admit that we instructed this."

"Understood." All the provincial officials nodded in unison.

Once this hurdle is overcome and the task of measuring the fields is completed by the end of the year, everyone will be promoted and rewarded.

If the imperial court were to conduct a thorough investigation and severely punish them for their actions, the nationwide land surveying policy would become even more difficult to implement.

immediately.

The governor of Henan, Shi Mengzhong, stood up, and the other provincial officials also quickly stood up.

Shi Mengzhong stroked his beard and said, "Although the Great Proclamation is an ancestral system, the court will certainly not allow the practice of 'binding up clerks and bringing them to the capital for punishment' to reappear. Otherwise, if the Ming Dynasty were to start a trend of acting in accordance with the Great Proclamation, there would probably be thousands of officials who would be skinned alive and stuffed with straw in the current officialdom. There would be no officials in the court. The court will not ignore the overall situation and will most likely send this Master Zhou back and then send the secret police to investigate. In this way, we will still have a chance."

"Later, I will write a letter to the capital. At that time, someone will help us. For the sake of the new policies, for the greater good, and to prevent the princes from causing trouble, I believe the court will understand us!"

All the provincial officials nodded in unison.

They felt wronged. They had racked their brains to come up with a good idea to complete the land survey within a year without causing a major disturbance among the feudal lords, but they were impeached and falsely accused by other officials.

In their eyes, they were acting for the greater good, while people like Zhang Jian and Master Zhou were only concerned with the common people.

……

February 30th, near dusk.

Shen Nian and more than ten other examiners walked out of the examination hall.

The marking of the examination papers has been completed.

Next, after the chief examiner Ma Ziqiang and the deputy chief examiner Shen Shixing have verified that there are no errors, the results can be announced, and the successful candidates will be instructed to prepare for the palace examination on March 15th.

At this moment, Shen Nian and the others all had dark circles under their eyes.

The chief examiner, Chen Jingbang, a reader in the Hanlin Academy, needed assistance to walk, as he could no longer lift his arms.

Shen Nian and the others also had aching arms and were so tired that they could barely keep their eyes open.

After leaving the examination hall, everyone went home.

Tomorrow, they can take a day off and sleep as long as they want.

Shen Nian missed his wife and children terribly, so he took a carriage and rushed home.

at the same time.

The memorial submitted by the Imperial Censor Zhang Jian reached the hands of Zhang Juzheng, the Grand Secretary of the Cabinet.

Zhang Jian spoke truthfully, only mentioning two things.

Firstly, in order to curry favor with the Prince Zhou's family and reduce the resistance to measuring land, Wu Qing, the magistrate of Xiangfu County, arbitrarily changed the dimensions of the measuring bow, thereby indirectly reducing the amount of land owned by the Prince Zhou's family and increasing the amount of land owned by ordinary people.

Secondly, Zhou Fuzi, a scholar from Xiangfu County, is upholding justice for the people. He has taken the "Great Proclamation" with him, bound Shi Danian, the head of the Xiangfu County constable, and carrying a counterfeit bow. He is already on his way to the capital.

As for whether provincial officials were involved in the matter, he only mentioned that Xu Daren, the left councilor of Henan, was aware of it.

He believed that after reviewing the case, the cabinet would investigate how many provincial officials were involved.

After a while.

Zhang Juzheng, Lü Diaoyang, and Zhang Siwei, the three Grand Secretaries, gathered in the office, while the other two quickly read through Zhang Jian's memorial.

"How should this memorial be drafted? Do either of you have any suggestions?"

"Repatriate!" Lü Diaoyang and Zhang Siwei said almost simultaneously.

Zhang Siwei added: "If our dynasty were to follow the Great Proclamation at present, it would likely cause a bloodbath in the officialdom. Therefore, this is not an option, and they should be repatriated immediately!"

Zhang Juzheng nodded in approval.

They understand the current officialdom; if the laws of the Hongwu era were reinstated, most of the current officials would be severely punished, and even they themselves would not be spared.

Now, with the new policies in place, we must not allow the officialdom to be shaken.

Lu Diaoyang added, "Repatriate them, and then suggest that His Majesty send the Imperial Guards to investigate thoroughly!"

Zhang Siwei shook his head.

“Grand Secretary Lü, I believe it is far too early to send the Imperial Guards to investigate. We should order the Censor Zhang Jian to continue the investigation. Once he has found out the results, we can then combine them with the memorials from the provincial officials of Henan to deal with this matter.”

"After all, this matter is a negative event related to the land survey in Henan. If the secret police intervene, it will affect the new policy of land survey in Henan. This year, the land in Henan must be surveyed, otherwise the court will lose face!"

Zhang Siwei's words clearly indicated his intention to downplay the matter, treating it as a matter for Xiangfu County, severely punishing the county's officials, rather than conducting a large-scale investigation.

He didn't say it explicitly, but Zhang Juzheng and Lü Diaoyang both understood his meaning.

If this matter was indeed instigated by provincial officials in order to complete the land survey task as soon as possible, the imperial court should turn a blind eye.

After all, this method reduces many conflicts.

If those feudal lords are truly pushed too far, although they have no military power and dare not say anything, they can secretly make a mess of the new policies.

Zhang Juzheng thought about it.

"Let's follow Grand Secretary Lü's advice in the draft proposal! If the Henan Provincial Administration Commission all acts this way, if they dare to increase the people's land tax by even a fraction today, they will dare to leave them homeless tomorrow. This behavior must not be tolerated!"

Zhang Juzheng was indeed very farsighted.

Immediately, he wrote on the memorial: "Send back Master Zhou. I suggest Your Majesty send the Imperial Guards to Henan to investigate the matter of the fake bow and arrow with the Imperial Inspector Zhang Jian."

……

March 1st, morning.

A side hall of the Wenhua Hall.

When Emperor Wanli was reviewing memorials, he saw a memorial from Zhang Jian, the imperial inspector.

Upon seeing Zhang Juzheng's reply, he frowned and shook his head slightly.

"This Master Zhou, in his efforts to seek justice for the local people, was imprisoned for several days and nearly lost his life. His family was threatened, yet he still had the audacity to use the 'Great Proclamation' to appeal to the capital. He clearly disregarded his own life. There are too few people in our Great Ming who care so much about the country and its people. I cannot send him back, lest I chill his heart. I must see him!"

After speaking, the young Wanli Emperor was about to summon Zhang Juzheng inside.

But after glancing at Wang Jiaping, a compiler at the Hanlin Academy who was writing daily records not far away, he decided to wait a bit longer.

From the beginning of the year.

When he disagreed with Zhang Juzheng, he was mostly persuaded by Zhang Juzheng.

The few times he won were all thanks to Shen Nian's advice and strategies.

He felt that Shen Nian understood him best and could persuade Zhang Juzheng, so he planned to summon Shen Nian in the afternoon to ask about the situation before summoning Zhang Juzheng.

The current Wanli Emperor is most pleased when he can get the cabinet to compromise when his opinions differ from those of the cabinet.

After this happened many times, he was able to take control of the government.

At present, he is looking forward to the feeling of ruling the country in his own right, with his ministers obeying his every command.

(End of this chapter)