Chaos of the Three Kingdoms Summons

Chapter 2779 Following the Clues, Turmoil Occurs in the Court and the Countryside

"The governors of Yan, Ji, and Qing provinces bear inescapable responsibility for such problems arising in their jurisdictions. Those with titles shall be demoted three ranks, and the governors of these three provinces shall be demoted to county magistrates!" Li Xiang continued to issue the order.

As governors of three prefectures, the fact that they failed to detect such a major incident in time was enough to warrant a serious punishment.

In fact, if we really investigate this seriously, apart from people like Wei Renpu who were recently transferred, did the others really not notice anything at all?

Li Xiang only demoted them to county magistrates, instead of executing them in the autumn or even exterminating their entire families, which already showed that he didn't want to expand the scope any further.

"Your Majesty, Jia Shaoqing is, after all, related to the late Duke of Liang and the Marquis of Jiaodong!" Zhang Liang, who was accompanying them, reminded them.

The Duke of Liang, that's Jia Xu, that old fellow.

The highest rank for a subject in the Han Dynasty was county marquis, but after death, he could be posthumously granted the title of duke.

As a veteran minister, Jia Xu certainly had the right to be posthumously honored.

And the Marquis of Jiaodong refers to you, Jia Fu.

After all, the identity that Jia Sidao was implanted with was that of Jia Xu's younger brother.

"The direct descendants of the Duke of Liang shall be spared the death penalty, but their titles shall be reduced by three ranks. The rest of their families shall be executed without exception!" Li Xiang said after thinking for a moment.

Even though Jia Xu and his son Jia Fu were both founding heroes, and they were deceased founding heroes.

However, merits cannot outweigh faults.

Aside from their own lineage, Li Xiang had no intention of letting go of the other three branches of Jia Sidao's family.

If such a massive corruption is not dealt with severely, won't everyone follow suit in the future?
The corruption case that occurred in the twelfth month of the first year of Jian'an (200 AD) on the Yellow River broke out suddenly and spread rapidly. This corruption case gradually evolved into a purge of corruption and illegal activities by the court, shocking the court and the public and causing a great uproar.

Therefore, even while the emperor was patrolling the Central Plains, he still ordered the Censorate to send censors to various places to supervise and punish corrupt officials throughout the Jin Dynasty.

In just one month, hundreds of officials from the central government to local levels have been imprisoned.

Furthermore, the cases involving the corrupt officials investigated in the Yellow River corruption case led to dozens of other cases, large and small. Following the clues, Bao Zheng uncovered dozens more officials in one go.

Although dozens of officials were not involved in the Yellow River corruption case, Li Xiang still ordered them to be dealt with together and executed.

Therefore, by the first month of the second year of Jian'an, nearly two hundred officials, including those from the Central Plains and various northern states, were brought in and imprisoned in the imperial prison.

This resulted in all officials, from the central government to local authorities, living in constant fear during the New Year, lest they also be affected.

Among the officials involved were high-ranking officials of the fourth or fifth rank and ministers holding important positions, and even one or two officials of the third rank, or even members of the royal family.

Following the clues, as one case led to another, one bombshell after another was exposed.

In fact, Yuwentai dared not let Bao Zheng continue the investigation and tried every means to persuade him to stop as soon as possible.

If the investigation continues in Bao Zheng's manner, one case will lead to another, and sooner or later it will lead to the heads of the Six Ministries.

If any one of the twelve ministers of the Six Ministries in the two major courts of the South and the North were directly implicated, it would be an earthquake for the court and for the whole country.

An earthquake has already occurred. Although Wei Qing, Li Guangyi, and Fang Xuanling were not directly involved, they have been indirectly implicated.

After all, in this series of cases, in addition to the relevant officials, there were also the sons of noble families in the court who usually roamed between the court and the public, like gluttons begging for food in the gray area.

In particular, many of the noble sons who were not the eldest sons of the legitimate wife and were ineligible to inherit the title were involved.

The family's noble titles had absolutely nothing to do with them. As a result, many people had the idea of ​​making a fortune while their families were still in power.

Many officials, while maintaining their own integrity, do not necessarily have children or nephews who are just as upright.

Having worked with Bao Zheng for less than two months, Yuwen Tai was already terrified of him.

As the investigation progressed, it seemed to have no end in sight. Every time an incident was exposed, Bao Zheng would file a case file; every time a person appeared, Bao Zheng would arrest them.

If all the people arrested now were thoroughly investigated, Yuwentai wouldn't know how many people would be implicated. Not to mention him, even the officials of the Six Ministries would be terrified!
As a result, six ministers have submitted memorials urging Li Xiang to put an end to this matter.

If the investigation continues like this, with everyone living in fear, it could destabilize the government and shake the foundations of the court.

After all, few people can guarantee that this matter will not affect them personally!

People like Wei Qing and Fang Xuanling, weren't they just born into families with an unfilial nephew?

Everyone here has a large and wealthy family. Perhaps they can guarantee that they themselves will be problem-free, but can they guarantee that their family members will be problem-free as well?
Therefore, some nobles, after discussing it, actually prepared to take a desperate gamble and burn their boats.

These nobles voluntarily handed over their nephews and nieces who had broken the law to the Dali Temple, turning themselves in.

So many nobles simultaneously had their own sons surrender themselves to the authorities.

So much so that nowadays, you don't even need to bother investigating anymore; people are turning themselves in, one after another, in droves.

Putting everything else aside, just the task of detaining all those who surrendered and thoroughly investigating their backgrounds would require more manpower than the Ministry of Justice and the Court of Judicial Review.

Furthermore, how could all the officials and clerks in charge of the investigation be completely innocent? Aren't all officials in the world the same? Everyone has something to hide.
If we're talking about knowingly breaking the law, who could be more adept at it than these law enforcement officers who are already part of the public security, procuratorial, and judicial system?
In fact, this stage made it difficult for the Ministry of Justice and the Court of Judicial Review to continue the investigation.

Their resistance came not only from those involved in the case. Officials and their families, as well as members of the investigating bureaucracy, were unwilling to cooperate. Some people in the Court of Judicial Review and the Ministry of Justice also feared that this matter would ultimately implicate them.

Thus, in the second year of Jian'an, a collective event, though not orchestrated by any intentional individuals, was carried out by nobles and officials in a tacit and unanimous manner.

Amidst this treacherous and turbulent situation, the nobles and officials within the court, in silence, voiced the same message and expressed the same will to Emperor Li Xiang, who was in the Central Plains.

Some people, however, became optimistic about the development of the situation, citing the saying, "The law does not punish the masses."

If all the nobles and officials in the court were involved, could the emperor punish them all?

If that were really the case, would the government cease to function? Would the country cease to be governed?

If that were the case, even the emperor would have no choice but to compromise.

However, the Jin emperor, who was on tour at the time, ordered all these memorials to be thrown back to Luoyang and handed over to the crown prince for processing.