My Portable Ming Dynasty

Chapter 186 Li Shilang, Who Cannot Escape

Since leaving the Ministry of Justice, Li Yiyuan, the Vice Minister of Justice, felt that his life had become much more open and expansive.

Minister of Justice Mao Kai is very similar in personality to Grand Secretary Li Chunfang. He rarely interferes in the affairs of the Ministry of Justice. Recently, Minister Mao has also followed Grand Secretary Li's example and asked to stay at home due to illness, so Li Yiyuan has become the de facto head of the Ministry of Justice.

Li Yiyuan didn't really care much about the affairs of the Ministry of Justice, but the Ministry of Justice had its own set of rules for operation, and as the Vice Minister, he only needed to strive for the interests of the Ministry of Justice in the general direction.

The Ministry of Justice's affairs are relatively closed off. Since the founding of the Ming Dynasty by Emperor Taizu, it has not undergone much change. So, as long as there are no major cases, the Ministry of Justice is quite leisurely.

Every time Li Yiyuan sat in his courtroom, recalling his days in the Ministry of Justice, especially the fact that he no longer had to face Su Ze's memorials, he would almost hum a contented hum.

Today, Li Yiyuan arrived at the Ministry of Justice on time. As usual, he reviewed the official documents of the various departments of the Ministry of Justice, processed them briefly, and put down his pen. Just as he was about to open the "New Yuefu Gazette," he heard his subordinates announce that Yang Sizhong, the Vice Commissioner of the Court of Judicial Review, had arrived.

Li Yiyuan found it somewhat strange.

Since he refused to let Yang Sizhong resign, but then ran away himself, their relationship has grown increasingly cold, to the point where they basically have no contact with each other.

Li Yiyuan actually felt guilty towards his old subordinate, Yang Sizhong, for leaving him a potential pitfall.

Having finally found an opportunity to leave the Ministry of Justice, Li Yiyuan was unwilling to give it up. Yang Sizhong, being skilled in his work, was the best person to replace him, so he had no choice but to sacrifice his friend rather than himself.

When Yang Sizhong came to visit today, Li Yiyuan thought he was coming to mend their relationship, so he personally led the officials to greet him in front of the Ministry of Justice.

"Brother Xiaofu, is the Ministry of Justice free today? Why did they invite you to come to the Ministry of Justice?"

As soon as he said those words, Li Yiyuan realized he had misspoke.

Why does that sound so sarcastic?
Li Yiyuan secretly reflected that he had lost all the caution he had shown as an official since leaving the Ministry of Justice. He quickly tried to make amends, saying:
“Brother Xiaofu, that’s not what I meant. What I meant was that the Office of Transmission is a matter of great importance to the court. If there’s anything that requires you, as the chief official, to come to the Ministry of Justice in person, why not just have your subordinates relay the message?”

Although Li Yiyuan tried to make amends, Yang Sizhong's expression became even more unpleasant.

Li Yiyuan simply shut his mouth; it seemed Yang Sizhong wasn't there to mend their relationship.

Yang Sizhong said indifferently, "Minister Li, I have come to the Ministry of Justice on official business."

Seeing Yang Sizhong's businesslike demeanor, Li Yiyuan felt a sense of foreboding.

As expected, Yang Sizhong said:
"His Majesty has issued a decree!"

Li Yiyuan hurriedly ordered his officials to bring out an incense table and summoned all the senior officials from the Ministry of Justice to receive the imperial edict in front of the Ministry's hall.

When Yang Sizhong finished reading the imperial edict, Li Yiyuan's face turned pale.

What is civil law?

What does it mean to ask the Ministry of Justice to discuss in detail and come up with a plan for the reform of the judicial system?
Li Yiyuan's mind was a complete blank. Yang Sizhong could no longer hide his smile and said to Li Yiyuan and the officials of the Ministry of Justice:
"This matter all stems from Su Zilin's memorial. I will not read his memorial; please, Vice Minister Li and the other officials, read it yourselves."

After saying this, Yang Sizhong left Su Ze's memorial behind and strode away gracefully.

Upon hearing the name Su Ze, Li Yiyuan trembled in shock. He quickly picked up Su Ze's memorial, but after reading it, his vision went black, and he was supported by the officials behind him.

Several officials from the Ministry of Justice took the memorial, and after reading it, they looked at each other in bewilderment.

Revising the law?

Ambitious officials would naturally be thrilled.

However, many officials shared Li Yiyuan's concerns. Revising the law was a major undertaking, and according to Su Ze's memorial, the original criminal serious crimes and civil litigation in the "Great Ming Code" needed to be separated, and a new civil code needed to be revised in light of the new problems encountered today. What a massive project this was!

As a result, the Ministry of Justice will likely be quite busy for the next few years.

Li Yiyuan finally recovered. He picked up the memorial and read it twice more. Then he saw the imperial edict and the draft proposals from the two Grand Secretaries, Gao and Zhang. He knew very well that he couldn't escape this task and could only bite the bullet and accept it.
-
In the history museum, Luo Wanhua held Su Ze's memorial and asked Su Ze about several policies mentioned in the memorial.

Luo Wanhua plans to start a new column in the Yuefu Xinbao newspaper, specifically to interview relevant officials and explain the intentions behind these court policies in the newspaper.

Luo Wanhua's first interview target was Su Ze, and the topic was naturally Su Ze's memorial that stirred up the various legal departments of the Ministry of Justice.

"Brother Zilin, since the original 'Great Ming Code' included both criminal and civil laws, why separate them?"

Su Ze said, "The reason why civil law is listed separately from criminal law is to reduce the severity of punishment."

"Light punishment?"

Su Ze explained, "When local government offices handle cases, they sometimes use severe punishments to suppress both parties in the litigation."

Seeing that Luo Wanhua still didn't understand, Su Ze said, "For example, if Zhang San borrows money from Li Si and doesn't repay it, it was originally a debt dispute. But after it went to the local government, the government first detained Zhang San on charges of defrauding people of money."

"Zhang San used his connections to get Li Si arrested and imprisoned on charges of false accusation."

"Zhang San and Li Si suffered greatly in prison, but in the end, the case was never resolved."

After listening to Su Ze's words, Luo Wanhua, though he had never served in a local government position, had heard about the corruption within local government offices and nodded in agreement.

Su Ze said, "After the separation of criminal and civil law, if Zhang San goes to the Civil Division to sue Li Si, the case will only be a civil case."

"The Civil Affairs Division does not have prisons, and cases are concluded in court. In this way, people can seek redress in civil cases without causing families to be ruined or killed because of litigation."

Luo Wanhua quickly wrote it down.

The greatest function of the Civil Code is to reduce or decriminalize some civil disputes, thereby providing a place for both parties in litigation to resolve their disputes.

Historically, civil codes have generally been born under this historical context.

In this era, both Chinese and foreign courts are places where going to court can be incredibly dangerous, almost costing you your life.

The West waited until the Napoleonic Code appeared, which separated civil and criminal law. Civil lawsuits were no longer a life-or-death ordeal, and the judiciary played an arbitral role in economic activities, which in turn promoted economic development.

To put it bluntly, the reform of the Zhenfu Division is not about the details of the laws and regulations, but about establishing a minor offense court to distinguish between everyday minor offenses and serious crimes.

Of course, Su Ze also knew that the law was not perfect, and he did not think that laws made by humans had any sacredness.

Law is a tool for resolving social disputes; fairness is merely a byproduct.

Clerks who want to harm people will naturally employ various other methods.

However, at least the judicial power should be restricted, so that it doesn't turn into the situation in the late Qing Dynasty, where lawsuits resulted in both the plaintiff and the defendant being exploited, and yamen runners using lawsuits to frame and extort people. Only then can society and the economy develop.

After separating civil and criminal law, the goal is to change customs and traditions by amending specific legal provisions.

Luo Wanhua wrote down the interview with Su Ze, handed it to Su Ze for review, and then walked towards the printing house with the manuscript.

Su Ze looked at the report that had popped up in the system a few days ago.

——[Simulation Start]——

A day later, the memorial entitled "On the Reform of the Elephant Breeding Office and the Duties of the Garrison Command" was sent to the Grand Secretariat. Gao Gong and Zhang Juzheng strongly agreed with it, and the memorial was sent to the Imperial Palace.

The Longqing Emperor approved your proposal to reform the Elephant Breeding Bureau, but hesitated to reform the Zhenfu Division.

The Emperor submitted your memorial to the Ministry of Justice for public discussion. However, Li Yiyuan, the Vice Minister of Justice, opposed revising the law, and the matter was dropped. —[End of Simulation]—

[Should I spend 100 prestige points to ensure the entire memorial is executed?]

Su Ze naturally chose yes and forcibly carried out all the contents of the memorial.

The system displayed a settlement report today.

[Using 100 prestige points, the memorial was forcibly approved.]

After the reorganization of the Zhenfu Division, the newly established Civil Affairs Division handled economic disputes in the capital fairly to a large extent, promoting economic development and making the capital's economic activities more active.

A year later, Li Yiyuan, the Vice Minister of the Ministry of Justice, led officials from the Ministry of Justice to complete the revision of the "Civil Code of the Great Ming Dynasty," thus giving birth to the world's first civil code in the Ming Dynasty.

The revenue from the stamp duty was increasing, supplementing the national treasury.

[Ming Dynasty +5]

[Remaining Prestige Points: 16.]

National fortune +5!

Li Yiyuan completed the "Civil Law of the Great Ming Dynasty" in just one year.

Su Ze never expected that the seemingly timid former Commissioner of the Court of Judicial Review would actually have this ability.
The Ming Dynasty truly buried its talents!
Old Li completed such a difficult task in just one year. After the "Civil Law of the Ming Dynasty" is finished, we can't waste such a talent. We should give him some more legal work to do.

After making a mental note of this, Su Ze sighed again and reluctantly walked toward the Ministry of Revenue.

Su Ze had just sat down in the main hall of the Shandong Provincial Administration Commission when Wei Yun, the chief clerk, came over with a thick stack of account books and said:
"Sir, this is the account book of the Laizhou Salt Bureau for last month. The Salt Transport Office has submitted a document to our department requesting instructions on how to handle the surplus salt."

Su Ze couldn't help but feel a headache coming on. The Thirteenth Bureau of the Ministry of Revenue was in charge of the affairs of each province, but there was no department above it to coordinate with.

With Shandong's salt production exceeding its capacity, and the need to transport salt to other provinces, Su Ze had to consult with the other officials in charge of the Qingli Bureau.

What's even more troublesome is that accounting is extremely difficult for any transaction involving multiple provinces.

Unfortunately, the Ming Dynasty's finances were a complete mess.

Simply put, the Ming Dynasty did not have a national finance department. Although the Ministry of Revenue was in charge of the national finances, it was actually managed by the Thirteen Offices of Finance.

For example, if a garrison in Shandong needed grain, a county surrounding Shandong would be responsible for paying the garrison's salary. Every year, the county would be responsible for transporting the grain it collected to the garrison.

After the garrison inspected and received the grain, they reported it to the Shandong Provincial Administration Commission, and that was considered the completion of the handover.

However, besides the Ministry of Revenue, there are many other departments in the Ming Dynasty that can collect taxes, such as the "horse tax" collected by the Bureau of Animal Husbandry and the "timber tax" collected by the Ministry of Works. These accounts do not go through the Ministry of Revenue.

Because there is no unified finance department to collect and spend funds, local finances are in great disarray, and central finances are also a mess.

The Ming Dynasty's fiscal system was even more backward than that of the Tang and Song Dynasties, which already knew to establish the Three Offices Commissioner under the Prime Minister to coordinate the nation's fiscal work.

Even more crucially, the Thirteen Offices of Clerks also possessed a unique system of checks and balances characteristic of the Ming Dynasty.

For example, the Shandong Provincial Administration Office, which was in charge of Su Ze, was responsible for the salt tax of the whole country, but the accounts of salt offices in other provinces needed to be reported to the Shandong Provincial Administration Office by other provincial administration offices.

The Shandong Salt Administration had to issue orders to all salt offices in the country and also notify and coordinate with the Qinglisi (a local administrative unit) offices within its jurisdiction that had salt offices.

As for why it was set up this way, you'd have to ask Emperor Taizu of Ming, Zhu Yuanzhang.

The chaotic situation wasn't resolved until Zhang Juzheng promoted the Single Whip Law and replaced in-kind taxes with silver.

Su Ze also understood why Zhang Juzheng insisted on appointing him as the Assistant Director of the Shandong Provincial Bureau of Personnel.

In the Ministry of Revenue system, to get things done, the head official had to be exceptionally capable.

Only when someone like Su Ze steps forward will the other officials in the Bureau of Justice cooperate closely and dare not make excuses or shirk their responsibilities.

If it were Wei Yun, who was in charge, he probably wouldn't even be able to get the account books.

Su Ze had to change his schedule from coming to the Ministry of Revenue every two days to coming every three days for two days in order to barely handle the affairs of the Shandong Division.

However, during this period, Su Ze quickly became proficient in the affairs of the Ministry of Revenue of the Ming Dynasty, and he gradually gained a deeper understanding of the operating system of the Thirteen Bureaus of Officials.

He was busy like this until June 20th, when Su Ze suddenly realized that the middle of the month had passed before he finally sorted out the official business of the Shandong Division.

Tomorrow is the end of the ten-day holiday, so Su Ze hurriedly packed his things and returned home.

Su Ze had just returned home when he saw the carriages and horses parked at the gate. He asked the servant who was greeting him:

"Do you have guests at your residence?"

The servant quickly replied:

"Master, it is Madam Du from the Shen family who has come to pay a visit to the eldest daughter-in-law."

Su Ze then remembered that after Shen Yiguan went on his mission to the grasslands, he left his wife, Du, and son, Shen Taihong, in the capital.

His wife was very thoughtful and often invited Mrs. Du to visit.

After Su Ze entered the mansion, the servants had already informed the inner quarters. Madam Du, along with her son Shen Taihong, respectfully bowed to Su Ze.

"Uncle Su."

Shen Taihong is thirteen years old this year. He is very talented in his studies and is preparing to participate in this year's Shuntian Prefecture provincial examination.

The Su and Shen families were already close friends, and Su Ze also liked the clever and quick-witted Shen Taihong, treating him like his own nephew. So he inquired about his studies and then said with satisfaction:
"Sister-in-law, Taihong is taking the Shuntian Prefecture provincial examination this year, and he's sure to pass!"

But Du's face showed worry as she said:

“Uncle, people are saying that you will be the chief examiner for the Shuntian Prefecture provincial examination this year. If Taihong participates in the Shuntian Prefecture provincial examination and passes, it will probably cause controversy. So I came to your residence today to discuss with you whether Taihong should participate in the Shuntian Prefecture provincial examination this year.”

Su Ze looked at Madam Du in surprise, then at Shen Taihong who looked dejected. Su Ze immediately said, "How can this be! The imperial examination is a major event for scholars. How can it be delayed because of this?"

"The chief examiner for the Shuntian Prefecture provincial examination has not yet been decided. Sister-in-law, please tell Taihong to study hard and not miss the important autumn examination."

After seeing off the Shen family mother and son, Zhao Lingxian said worriedly:
"Sister Du is actually worried about Shen Hanlin."

Sighing, Shen Yiguan also looked worried. The situation on the grassland was complicated, and even with the [carrier pigeon] communication, Su Ze could not guarantee Shen Yiguan's safety.

Seeing her husband's worried expression, Zhao Lingxian changed the subject and said:

“Husband, I heard from Sister Du that the elephant breeding center outside the city has reopened, and the doctor said my pulse is stable. Can I go and have a check-up tomorrow since I have a day off?”

Su Ze nodded in agreement, and Zhao Lingxian added, "Let's also visit the sugar workshop outside the city while we're at it!"

(End of this chapter)