Chongzhen revived the Ming Dynasty

Chapter 80 The chief culprit must be held accountable, and the principal culprit must be questioned and threatened with a minor punishment.
After adjusting the Metropolitan Procuratorate, Zhu Youjian did not continue the review.

After all, he has only investigated senior officials and the Dali Temple officials who were first reviewed in advance, and does not know much about other low-level officials.

These people can only be handed over to officials who have passed the review. After reviewing the Ministry of Personnel and Science and Technology, they will then review the Ministry of Justice and other departments.

This made Xue Zhen, the Minister of Punishment, and others relieved, thinking that they had escaped this hurdle for the time being.

However, this does not mean that Zhu Youjian really let them go, especially since the Ministry of Punishment, as one of the three judicial departments, must be the first subject of review. If Zhu Youjian hadn't taken the opportunity to adjust the organization, he might have put them in front of the staff.

The reason for the delay now is simply that Zhu Youjian did not want to replace so many officials to avoid chaos in the court.

After deciding on the adjustment of the Metropolitan Procuratorate, Zhu Youjian planned to make the next adjustment after Li Banghua, Liu Zongzhou and others took office and straightened out the affairs of the Metropolitan Procuratorate.

At the same time, he also ordered the prosecution of some officials:
"Xu Guangqi and Wen Tiren, the former right ministers of the Ministry of Rites, were reinstated and given the title of political envoy."

"Kong Zhenyun performed meritoriously in presiding over the tribute ceremony, and his original title of right minister of the Ministry of Rites was changed to the title of envoy of the government."

"If there is a vacancy for a minister, priority will be given to candidates."

Determine the qualifications of these people so that they can seize the opportunity and be appointed before others.

At the same time, he quietly limited the candidates for the Six Ministers to those who had the title of envoy.

The ministers didn't know how Xu Guangqi and Wen Tiren fell into the eyes of the emperor, but the power to increase their titles was in the hands of the emperor, and they had no way to object to this appointment.

He was a little envious of Kong Zhenyun, thinking that this small official who had only graduated from the fifth rank Zuo Yude two months ago was really lucky. Not only did he successfully complete the tribute and gain a name in history, he also served as a minister, and Jane was in the heart of the emperor.

Even Yang Jingchen was envious of this opportunity and thought that Kong Zhenyun was likely to join the cabinet in the future. But soon, he heard the emperor mention himself and promoted himself to Zuo Shilang:
"The left minister of the Ministry of Personnel is vacant, Yang Jingchen is transferred from the right minister to the left minister, and the right minister of the Ministry of Personnel is Tingtui."

"Tian Ji, the left minister of the Ministry of War, was dismissed. Lu Chunru, the right minister of the Ministry of War, and Qin Shiwen, before being reviewed, recommended others."

"Any promotion that has not been reviewed will be frozen."

After saying these words, all the ministers immediately understood that the two vacant ministers must be selected from Xu Guangqi, Wen Tiren, and Kong Zhenyun. Although the emperor did not specify it, it was not far off.

Yuan Keli said at this time:
"Your Majesty, there are a lot of things happening in the world right now. I think it is appropriate for me to select the Minister of War from among the governors."

"Qin Shiwen was an upright man. He saved a lot of money on salary when he was in charge of the Tao Min army. He was commended by the late emperor."

"He also made many achievements when he was in Xuanfu. Your Majesty should not exclude such a person just because he was a rebel."

I was a little surprised by this. I didn't expect Yuan Keli to speak for Qin Shiwen.

After this man was pushed out by the eunuchs to compete with Yuan Keli, Zhu Youjian also got to know him and knew that he did have some abilities and had received awards.

Now that Yuan Keli recommended him, Zhu Youjian followed suit and said:
"Qin Shiwen once wrote a book praising beauty, but he was also an accomplice in the construction of the temple."

"Considering that he only signed the name of the principal criminal who built the temple, and has no serious tendency to be rebellious, I will classify him as the seventh grade."

"Removed all official ranks, reinstated him as the fourth-rank Taipusi Shaoqing due to his merits in Taomin and Xuanfu, and added the rank of third-ranking political officer, acting as Taipusi Minister and acting right minister of the Ministry of War."

"Let him do his job well and don't let me down!"

Yuan Keli was very relieved that the recommended talents were appointed. I feel that although the emperor has different rules in some aspects, he is able to listen to advice and is a wise king.

Thinking that there were still many officials who needed to be reviewed, Yuan Keli went to the memorial again:
"For the circumstances mentioned by Your Majesty, please also draw up regulations so that the competent authorities can convict the persons according to the law."

Zhu Youjian nodded in praise of kindness and said to the ministers:
"Wei Zhongxian's attempted treason failed, and I don't want to vigorously pursue the treason case, so as not to cause a large number of prisons and make the world uneasy."

"But if we don't pursue the case, we won't be able to show our integrity and give an account to those gentlemen who used their lives to stop Wei Zhongxian."

"So I have decided that the culprits must be investigated, the principal culprits must be questioned, and the perpetrators must be punished with minor punishments, and those who have committed crimes will be classified as level eight." After hearing this decision, most of the officials heaved a sigh of relief. They know that they cannot be considered the culprits. Most of them are not even the main culprits and will only receive minor punishments.

Sure enough, Zhu Youjian's treatment of the coercors was not serious at all:
"The eighth grade is the eulogies. People like Zhang Jiude who once praised Wei Zhongxian in a book were not aware of Wei Zhongxian's rebellion and just followed the eunuchs to praise him. After he was dismissed, he was allowed to be restored to his original position and given a higher title as appropriate."

"Others who have gained promotions by praising or relying on the eunuchs must be verified by the Ministry of Personnel one by one and removed from their positions by abusing their official positions."

"Then the officials will be reappointed based on their past merits."

With that said, Zhu Youjian told the officials:
"The official positions in each department should be strictly in accordance with the establishment. Officials with grades should be re-registered and the number of officials should be counted."

"It is better to have a shortage of all official positions than to overfill them. It is better to have low-level officials temporarily act on their behalf than to exceed the establishment."

"The original various additional titles of Zhengqing, Shaoqing, and Minister of Secretariat will all be removed this time. The newly established additional titles of Fourth Assistant Minister, Chief Secretary, and Minister of Imperial Affairs will be granted as appropriate when they are reinstated. Try to match the official positions as much as possible. Various titles are awarded.”

"I don't want to have to calculate how many ministers and ministers there are in Taipu Temple and how many ministers and ministers there are in the Ministry of War."

He deeply abhorred this kind of behavior of using actual official positions as additional titles. This was also the reason why Zhu Youjian had previously rectified the system of additional titles. He still doesn't know how many ministers there are in the Ministry of War, whether a young minister will suddenly pop up from Taipu Temple, and what his specific duties will be.

The official's study room was magnificent, and Yang Jingchen, the left minister of the official's department, bowed down to accept the order. Zhu Youjian also asked:

"Ning Yuan Gong, Ning Jin Gong, Sandian Gong, Fan Feng Gong and other indiscriminate contributions after Wei Zhongxian came to power must be re-verified."

"Those who do not deserve the title should be removed when they are dismissed."

"Generals on the front line must be cautious, and the Ministry of War will verify their merits together."

"All the officials in the court will be cut off, and after verification, they will be re-awarded according to their merits."

These words made the ministers feel tense, and they felt sorry for the loss of the hard-earned title.

However, thinking of the emperor's previous removal of all official ranks from Zhang Jiude and others, and also specifically pointed out that including the additional titles of Yinxi and scattered official ranks, they knew that these indiscriminate contributions by Wei Zhongxian could not be preserved in any case, so they could only acquiesce in this fact.

And that's not all. In order to promote righteousness, Zhu Youjian also praised Yuan Keli:

"Yuan Qing's three remarks about the merits of the Three Palaces can be called a breath of fresh air."

"The title is promoted from the second-rank minister in charge of administration to the second-rank minister in charge of discussing affairs. I decree to commend him!"

These words made the officials even more ashamed, and Yuan Keli was excited to express his gratitude.

This praise from the emperor was a great honor for him, enough to be included in his biography after his death.

It's not in vain that he came out to serve the new emperor at such an old age.

　"Chongzhen Changbian" April of the second year of Chongzhen:
　　(Gengzi), Wang Yongguang, the Minister of Civil Affairs, and others commented:

　　The minister Wu Zong of Taiwan wanted to get rid of the traitors in the imperial court. The ministers and other ministers discussed the case and punished him before the plan. Suddenly, on the fourth day of the first lunar month, the emperor ordered to build a temple to praise Zhu Shu, and ordered the cabinet minister Han Xu and other court ministers Cao Yu. My colleagues and I read it carefully in the pavilion. On the 9th day of the second lunar month, according to the imperial edict, Qiao Yunsheng, the Secretary of the Ministry of Punishment, and other ministers were summoned to participate in the investigation and finalize the case in accordance with the law. The charges against him were discussed in accordance with the law, and the money was listed and requested. Seeing that the punishment was ordered, I did not dare to repeat it again. From the outside to the sparse inside, adding titles, adding shade, and indiscriminate bedding, and the side work of the temple still needs strict inspection. The most hateful thing is that when the late emperor was dying, many officials paid homage to him by chance.

　　On August 21, the seventh year of the Apocalypse, Dagong Xie En, Ning Jin Xujie, Lu Bu Cheng Cheng, and the Kingdom of Three Enemies, etc., were indiscriminately flushed, and some of the red books were eliminated or not punished successively, but the order remained the same. , and inspected the place to listen to the surrender, and those who had been awarded the title were listed together. Those whose promotions have been buried and whose opportunities have not yet been fully exhausted, whether they have resigned or not, or have been eliminated or not, will be removed as soon as the emperor clarifies his intention. Each case will be established to prevent deception forever. The common people will be completely eliminated and there will be no way out. .

　　Forty-three people were cut off from the halogen book...

　　Ning Jin added titles and attacked and cut off seventy-three people...

　　Two hundred and ninety-eight of the palace workers were given titles and cut off...

　　Sixty-one people were cut off from the feudal records...

　　
　
(End of this chapter)