A son who doesn't resemble his father? Love you, old man, see you at Xuanwu Gate!

Chapter 123 Shen Ming
Ji An left the court.

He served as the tutor of the crown prince during the reign of Emperor Xiaojing for more than 20 years.

Serving as a minister in the Han dynasty is rare; to do well from beginning to end is a rare quality. Ji An was one such example.

He had no extraordinary talents, but he was courageous and outspoken, often daring to speak frankly and without fear of offending His Majesty. He did indeed correct many of His Majesty's mistakes, showing the demeanor of an ancient sage.

But they couldn't withstand the change of officials with each new emperor.

Before His Majesty, Ji An advocated for peace through marriage alliances with foreign powers and petitioned for the people's welfare, thus belonging to the conservative faction. However, in front of the Emperor, Ji An might not be considered conservative enough.

They used the heads of high-ranking officials to win over the hearts of the common people in Guandong.

Even conservatives think it's too conservative.

Lacking both ambition and conservatism, Ji An, this "mirror," became useless.

The Right Inner Historian and the Prefect of Donghai Commandery were both officials with a salary of two thousand shi (a unit of grain), but one was the Prefect of the Capital Region and the other was the Prefect of the remote Hai Commandery. How could their powers be the same?
In the main hall, Ji Ren, Ji An's brother and the general who opened the Dinglu Gate on the night of Chang'an, has now been promoted to Commandant of the Waterways. Ji An's nephew, Commandant Sima An, watched his brother (uncle) leave the court and sighed almost imperceptibly.

The rise of the Ji family, with more than a dozen officials in the court, began with Ji An. Could it be that Ji An would also bring about their downfall?

Who can say for sure?

The Ji family, while not entirely aligned with the Crown Prince's palace, certainly shows some bias. Given the Emperor's magnanimity, it shouldn't be difficult for the Ji family to maintain wealth and status for two or three generations. As for anything longer, only Heaven knows.

With the death of a high-ranking official and the dismissal of another, the atmosphere in the Xuan Shi Hall gradually became heavy.

The problem of piracy in the Northeast is only the beginning.

The cruel officials of both the Chinese and foreign dynasties knew that if they did not speak up, the empire might completely change course once the emperor spoke, and the politics of cruel officials would most likely disappear entirely. In that case, they would have to die.

As the emperor's dog to bite people, a cruel official must offend many people. The longer he works, the more hatred he accumulates and the more enemies he has. Once the emperor abandons the cruel official, the situation of everyone turning against him will immediately occur.

The past acts of vengeance and revenge, where they could do whatever they wanted to whomever they wanted, will all come back to haunt them.

"Your Majesty, I have a report to submit."

Zuo Fengyi walked into the center of the hall and said respectfully: "The bandits in Guandong sometimes gather to cause chaos, and sometimes scatter and flee to the mountains and forests. The reason for this is that the local officials have not fulfilled their duty to catch the bandits, and the local scoundrels are in cahoots with the bandits. Therefore, I believe that the local officials should be held accountable and the connection between the bandits and the people should be severed."

Your subject requests that central officials be dispatched, bearing the imperial envoy's insignia and tiger tally, to local areas to supervise and apprehend thieves in prefectures and kingdoms. They shall be permitted to mobilize troops from prefectures and kingdoms, hold accountable officials of all ranks from the rank of two thousand shi downwards, and directly possess the power of life and death in local areas. If any prefecture or kingdom has thieves and fails to report the thieves or arrests the required number of thieves, regardless of the official's rank, they shall be sentenced to death.

Furthermore, within a prefecture, any official or commoner who has had any dealings with thieves shall be executed; this is what I call the "Death by Death Law."

A familiar feeling, a familiar taste.

Yi Zong made no attempt to conceal his ruthlessness, murderous intent, and tendency to implicate others; he was more wary of local officials and people than of thieves.

The inability to catch thieves was due to the incompetence of local officials and the collusion between local people and thieves. In short, officials, people, and thieves were all enemies of the imperial court.

Shen means "to disappear," and those who dare to harbor thieves will lose their lives.

Where theft is rampant, it takes the lives of everyone in that place.

"Whose idea was this excellent method of protecting the people?" Liu Ju asked, looking at Yi Zong.

"It was my... friend's idea." Yi Zong subconsciously took the credit for himself, but then realized something was wrong and changed his words. "Which friend? Is it a high-ranking official in the court? Or a hidden gem that has been overlooked in the common people?" Liu Ju continued to ask.

Upon closer examination, everyone could sense the ruler's ill intentions. No matter whose name Yi Zong mentioned, none of them would have a good end. The cruel officials in the court immediately became tense.

The Shenming Law was not a new law; it was a "law to eliminate bandits" devised by cruel officials specifically for Your Majesty. However, Your Majesty had previously painted a rosy picture of peace and prosperity, and believed that the national situation was not yet at that point, so he did not adopt it.

All the cruel officials of the Han Dynasty were involved in the specific legal details; this was the collective wisdom of these cruel officials.

The cruel officials were sweating, but Yi Zong was sweating even more. Facing the young emperor's might, he felt his mouth dry and his throat bitter.

"Say!"

“Reporting to Your Majesty, he is my friend, Suozhong, and Jianxuan,” Yizong replied hastily.

Suozhong, Jianxuan.

Two people who left the court and returned to their hometowns.

He came from the Grand General's office and was a cruel official of His Majesty. Later, he was used by the Grand Master Zhuang Zhu to investigate the corruption of the Northern Army. If it weren't for the fact that His Majesty used the money from the Crown Prince's palace and the excuse of eating ten thousand pigs a day to cover it up, the Grand General and the generals of the Northern Army would have perished then, and there would be no Qilin Pavilion now.

Shen Mingfa and the other two had been involved, but Yi Zong pushed all the blame onto them.

The eyes of the officials, generals, marquises, and members of the imperial family of both the Chinese and foreign dynasties as they looked at Yi Zong were filled with contempt and anger.

In officialdom, it's a place where people are forgotten once they leave, but there's also a principle of settling accounts after someone leaves. Unless there's a deep-seated hatred, mentioning it again won't cause trouble. This is a common practice, after all, everyone eventually retires and returns to their hometown.

Yi Zong dragged Suo Zhong and Jian Xuan out to take the blame, which violated a major taboo in officialdom.

Wei Qing, who sat at the head of both the civil and military administration of two dynasties, parted his lips slightly, then closed them again.

Since Suozhong and Jianxuan were from his shogunate, he knew that the two were not ungrateful, and that Suozhong of the Northern Army was simply being used.

But in this world, most of the time, actions speak louder than intentions. If he hadn't stopped them, none of the Northern Army generals would have allowed Suozhong and Jianxuan to return to their hometowns.

The gazes behind him told Wei Qing that he could no longer stop them.

Moreover, Suozhong and Jianxuan were not innocent either. Zhufu Yan's death was caused by the two of them using the most subtle and harsh clauses to frame and kill him. They were known as "daring to decide cases" and had killed countless people. No matter how or when they died, they were not wronged.

“It is easier to control the people’s hearts than to control a river. How could our great Han Dynasty have such a heartless and treacherous person as Zhang Tang?”

Upon the emperor's summons, Zhang Tang immediately stepped forward and replied, "Your subject is here."

"Re-examine the cases of Su Zhong and Jian Xuan during their time as officials, exonerate the wronged, and punish the unjust. If there is any favoritism or illegality, summon them back to the capital for questioning. If the evidence is conclusive, deal with them according to the law," Liu Ju said indifferently.

The rampant banditry in Guandong proved that the harsh laws had lost their effectiveness. Continuing to impose heavy penalties on local officials and the common people, and acting with the law of death, lower-ranking officials, fearing execution for not capturing enough bandits, dared not report the thieves, instead concealing the situation and letting it escalate, leaving the responsibility to higher-ranking officials. By the time higher-ranking officials learned the truth, the situation was often out of control, and they had no choice but to collude with their subordinates to deceive even higher-ranking officials. In this way, the more bandits were captured, the more bandits appeared, which was exactly what the cruel officials wanted to see.

Those who rise to power through murder will not care about the fate of the Han Dynasty.

"Yes, Your Majesty."

Suo Zhong, Jian Xuan, Shen Ming.

(End of this chapter)